Just a Girl
by itsaboutouat
Summary: Saffron Edwards didn't know any better. To her, Peter Pan and all the rest were fairy-tales. Little did Saffron know that she was actually part of the fairy-tales. Everything she has ever known is ripped from her when she is taken to Neverland, where she encounters things and most definitely boys she never thought could've existed. (Precurse, AU and OC)
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Milah and Killian stood on the deck of the ship, Killian staring down Rumplestiltskin. Killian's mind was racing, but he knew there was no way he could play the Dark One. _

_Words rolled off his tongue in the creepy, sing-song accent he used frequently, only this time, there wasn't the look of sadistic glee on his face. Until he ripped out Milah's heart._

_Meanwhile below deck, a baby girl around the age of two sat on the floor, blissfully unaware of her mother's death upstairs. She crawled around the room, and curiously opened a cabinet that was left ajar, with a key in the hole. It had been abandoned quickly when the situation upstairs had escalated._

_The girl stuck her chubby fist in the cabinet and pulled out a small bag._

_Emptying the contents on the floor, a magic bean fell out. Of course, the little girl had no clue of it's powers, so after looking at it for a while, she carelessly threw the bean to the side, ready to look for more things to sate her curiosity._

_Above deck, the captain cradled his dead wife in his arms, his hand, or lack thereof, still burning with intense pain._

_In that moment, not only had Killian Jones lost the love of his life, but also his only daughter, who had just fallen into a menacing looking portal._


	2. Chapter 1

Saffron focused on the feeling on wind pushing through and knotting her hair, ignoring the feeling of being watched that she usually felt. Ever since she could remember, she's had an uneasy feeling of being watched. She shrugged it off, as usual.

Her prized horse, Charles, whinnied loudly, obviously spooked, and he started to gallop towards the forest that bordered her large mansion sized house.

"Charles! Boy, calm down!" Saffron crooned anxiously. "Back to the st-"

The horse stood up on its hind legs, trying to throw Saffron off. Charles succeeded and it galloped off, leaving her to fall down to earth.

Before she hit the ground, a dark hand grabbed her hand and pulled her swiftly up. And up. And up.

Soon, Saffron realised that she was _flying_. She screamed and looked up at the thing holding her. A boy, it seemed. In the fast fading light she couldn't tell.

The scream caused the boy to turn around and look at Saffron. Quickly, Saffron realised it wasn't a boy, it was… some sort of _shadow._

Saffron tried all she could to free her arm from this _thing_, all the while she screamed her head off.

Looking down, she realised trying to let go wasn't the best idea she'd had. They had to be hundreds of feet in the air by now.

Overcome by the shock that a strange beastly shadow was carrying her higher and higher into the evening skies, she felt lightheaded and black spots clouded her vision. Or maybe that was because of the lack of oxygen.

* * *

Saffron opened her eyes. The last she remembered was riding Charles, but he threw her off. She must've hit her head pretty hard and possibly sleep walked into the forest, Saffron guessed at her surroundings.

She looked around a bit more, something annoying her. Something she was missing – a memory. What was she forgetting?

Going to move forward and explore her surroundings, she realised that she was tied up. To a tree.

In confusion, she looked down. Yes, most certainly, ropes her tying her to a tree. Then she remembered, the strange shadow that carried her up into the sky, before she passed out.

How long had she been out for? And, more importantly, why was she tied to a _tree_? Where was she? Now she thought about it, it looked nothing like her home forest, but more jungle-like.

This was crazy. Flying shadows didn't _exist_. People who tied others to a tree after kidnapping them with a shadow didn't exist, either_._ This wasn't a world she knew.

Maybe it was another world, Saffron thought, but quickly redeemed herself.

No. Other 'worlds' didn't exist, either, and there was no way she could be in one. She wasn't the girl that had adventures. She was a normal girl, and normal was how Saffron liked it.

That was when the arrow went whizzing through the air, and landed just above her head, pinning some of her hair to the tree and forcing her to lift up her chin, exposing her neck.

"Just a girl," a boy in the distance drawled with a low, lazy sounding voice. He held a bow at his side. "Tell the younger ones to prepare a cage."

A _cage?_ Who was this psycho, and why was he wearing such strange clothing? He wore a brown cloak, the hood covering most of his face in shadows, and other raggedy clothes in shades of brown and dark green.

He started towards her purposefully, his hood falling back as he walked. A few boys that looked younger than him scurried off. It was apparent this boy was the leader in a strange group they had going on.

"Welcome to Neverland, girl," he drawled as he stood in front of her.

At a distance it was too hard to see in the dark, but as he got closer, she could see the large scar that spanned across one side of his face. She gasped a little and he rolled his eyes as if impatient.

He pulled a knife out of his belt and roughly cut away the ropes, nicking her wrist in the process. Saffron drew in a sharp intake of breath and the strange teen chuckled.

"Follow me," he ordered and grabbed her forearm in a vice like grip. "Best get you into a cage before Pan comes back. You could be useful, and if he's angry, you'd probably be the first he'd kill."

The boy's words started to process in Saffron's mind.

Neverland. Pan (presumably he meant Peter Pan). Was this guy crazy?

Regardless of where she was, she wasn't going with this guy. He shot an arrow at her head, for God's sake!

Saffron decided to play along with his weird story about this being Neverland. Naturally, she didn't believe him, although she'd never seen such a place before.

The only world is Earth, so she was either dreaming or part of some sick joke.

Digging her feet into the ground, she stopped walking and tried to shrug her arm free, grunting with exertion. He was much stronger than she expected.

The boy sighed, almost as if he were bored.

"You're very talkative, aren't you, girl?" he rolled his eyes. "Hurry up, we're almost there."

Saffron raised her eyebrows and folded her arms in defiance. Saffron wasn't going anywhere with him. She decided to bite her tongue. If he wanted her to talk, well…she wouldn't.

Don't talk to strangers, they said. This scarred boy was most definitely a strange stranger.

Once again the boy whipped out his knife.

"Keep walking girl, or I will slit your throat," he said lowly and walked menacingly towards her.

Well, that was enough motivation for Saffron. Quickly, her legs started moving again and he chuckled a bit – she was pretty sure she heard him mutter something along the lines of 'herding spineless sheep'.

The land rumbled it started to rain heavily.

The unnamed boy quickened his pace, and Saffron tried to match his speed. She didn't think twice about running, he would shoot her down with one of his arrows if she tried.

"Pan's back, and he's angry," the scarred boy murmured as they reached their destination.

They entered an area of 'Neverland' that looked like a camp. There was a large fire pit in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by logs. Treehouses surrounded the circular clearing and it was completely empty.

"Cowards," the teenager, who must've been only a year or two older than herself.

Saffron only realised she had stopped when the boy yanked her forward by her arm, almost pulling it out of its socket. She groaned and he sighed.

"Thomas!" he yelled up into the trees, over a particularly loud clap of thunder.

Now, Saffron was starting to shiver. She was still in her riding gear, and was soaking wet, her straight, pitch black was plastered to her head.

On the other hand, the strange kidnapper boy was seemingly unaffected. Yes he was wet, but he didn't seem to be cold or at all bothered by the freezing winds and ice cold rain.

Her teeth started to chatter and after a moment or so, a boy appeared in a tree house. The tree house would've had to be at least 20 feet in the air and he _jumped._ Saffron gaped as he impossibly landed on his feet, not breaking any of his bones.

This was definitely a dream, as that couldn't have been possible, although the feeling of freezing numbness was definitely real.

"What, Felix?" The boy, who she assumed to be Thomas, had finally given the strange boy a name. Felix.

Thomas looked maybe 14 and he was dressed in the same weird way as Felix.

"Pan's back and I want you to take this -" Felix shoved her forward and she fell onto her knees, her legs too cold to work. Thomas chuckled as she tried to pull herself up. "And put it in a cage."

_I'm not an _it, Saffron thought to herself. It wasn't any more that she was refusing to speak, but more that she felt her tongue was on the verge of falling off.

Once again, she was surprised by the strength of a particularly weak looking boy.

Thomas nodded curtly to Felix and they both strode off in opposite direction, Thomas dragging her with him. This boy liked to talk a bit more than Felix.

"The weather's looking particularly bad," he stated. "Must mean Pan's angry about something, and if he's angry, we're all going to feel it."

Thomas chuckled darkly as if he knew something she didn't, which was apparently true as he dragged them further into the trees. By now Saffron had lost sight of the camp.

Her brain was too cold to work, but they were almost there.

"Don't know why the shadow brought a _girl_," Thomas scowled, shaking his head. "Why would we want to have a girl, ruining our fun?"

He shook his head a bit more, as if keeping company with a girl was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

"Here," Thomas let go of her arm and she collapsed onto the ground. She was so, so cold and she knew that if she didn't warm up she would freeze to death.

Thomas finished unlocking something and sighed at her figure lying on the ground, almost as if she was too lazy to get up, and not freezing to death. He hauled her into the cage and surprisingly instantly Saffron fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Saffron awoke, feeling incredibly stiff. Her neck ached and it was the worst sleep she had ever had. Had she lost one of her pillows in the night?

Opening her eyes, she sat up with a start. She had been sleeping on the ground, still locked up in a cage.

Surely, this wasn't a dream or a trick. Could it be… real?

Saffron pushed herself onto her knees and gripped the bars. She had some real questions to ask.

Sitting on a tree in front of the cage was Thomas. He sat with a knife in hand, sharpening a wooden spear. He glanced up.

"Finally, you're awake," Thomas rolled his eyes. Did all of the boys in this place have an attitude problem?

Suddenly, Saffron realised that she wasn't wearing her riding clothes anymore, but a white blouse and forest green leggings with brown boots. Simplistic yet comfortable.

"Yes," Thomas said, obviously seeing the look of confusion on her face. "Peter changed your clothes."

Saffron choked on her spit – very lady like – and felt violated. Someone, a stranger, a _boy_ had taken off her clothes and done God knows what whilst she was _unconscious_.

"Don't worry," Thomas smirked. "He used magic. Couldn't have our guest here freezing to death before he got to speak with you. If you _do_ speak, that is."

Thomas chuckled a bit. This was all getting too much. Strange boys and clothes, boys willing to kill her at the drop of the hat, _Peter Pan_ was here in _Neverland_ and he could use magic!

All of a sudden, she felt very woozy.

_I'm sorry Saffron, but I think you're going insane, _she thought to herself.

When she looked up again, Thomas had disappeared. Saffron quickly sized up her surroundings. It looked like the same dense forest/jungle. IF she could get out of this flimsy looking wooden cage, maybe she could find a town or some adults to arrest these crazy kids.

Surprisingly, Thomas had left his knife near the tree. She could try and reach for it to escape. Saffron stuck her arm through one of the gaps and reached for the knife. It was infuriatingly just out of reach.

Saffron drew her arm back in and huffed in frustration. What could she do now?

What was that? Saffron turned slowly but there was no one in sight, although they could easily be hiding behind a tree. She thought she had heard someone sigh.

When she turned back around, the knife seemed to have moved _closer_. Without questioning it, she reached and grabbed the knife. She had to get out of this insane asylum right _now._

Without too much effort Saffron managed to cut through the thin bars and, still grasping the knife, she slowly escaped the cage. For a place where a teenager could shoot an arrow and purposely pin her to a tree, this all seemed a bit too easy.

_Just go while you can,_ Saffron urged herself and her legs began to move slowly through the strange forest.

After a few minutes, she was already hopelessly lost and starting to feel the effects of dehydration.

Up ahead, she saw a boy. He held a spear that looked sharper than Thomas' and Saffron didn't fancy being on the receiving end of its poke.

But the boy had already seen her and he was approaching her quickly with a mischievous smirk on his face.

With a face like deer caught in the head lights, she turned and ran.

Soon, she was out of breath and she risked a glance behind her. She'd lost him.

Saffron bent down, hands on knees with the knife in flat between her leg and palm. Her breathing was ragged. What could she do now? The only choice was the find a water source and quickly, especially after that running.

Something heavy rammed into her and she was thrown to the ground. A skinny boy with impressive weight was straddling her now.

Was it the boy from before? Saffron didn't know, although a sharp spear was in his hand.

Forcing herself to recover, she groped the ground for the knife. Once she had it, she wasn't sure what to do. The boy on top of her seemed to be recovering also.

"What? You're not going to stab me?" his eyes flickered to the knife in her hand. No, Saffron didn't want to kill him. "Guess I'll have to stab you first then."

The boy grinned wickedly and raised his spear. Thinking quickly, Saffron grunted and rolled over, using the last bit of her strength. Now she was on top.

Without wasting energy on talking, she plunged the knife into his exposed forearm. The boy strangled a cry and stared at her with eyes full of hatred.

Luck being on her side, she yanked the spear from the boys hand and threw it javelin style into the forest.

Before spear-boy got up, Saffron went to get out of there. Even thought he was now weapon-less and had an injured arm, she was too thirsty and exhausted to deal with anything else. But she couldn't move. Literally, her legs could not move, almost as if her feet were frozen to the ground.

Slow clapping echoed around the trees and spear-boy pushed himself against a tree into a standing position as best as he could. A boy came into view. He wore strange clothes as well, but they were different to the other boys she'd seen. His hands fell to his side and Saffron raised her small knife up wearily, although she knew deep inside her that it would be useless against this boy, whoever he was.

The smirk on his face spoke of arrogance and he glanced towards spear-boy.

"Defeated by a _girl_, Edward?" the boy shook his head in disappointment. "Obviously my standards in Lost Boys are dropping, are they not?"

Spear-boy, or Edward as he was called, looked at the boy in fear, even though Edward looked a little older than him.

"Kill me," Edward whispered.

The boy chuckled. "No, no. I wouldn't be so cruel. You'll go back to camp and tell _all_ the boys, how you were so easily defeated by a girl, no less. Now go, I have business to attend to." His gaze flickered back to Saffron, who stood there looking panicked.

Another smirk grew onto his face as he looked at Saffron, raising one eye brow.

"Not bad, although you were only too quick to give up on that knife." He gestured to the knife which had slipped through her fingers and landed on the dirty ground.

He advanced towards her and Saffron pressed herself against a tree, eyes wide. Her mind worked fast. If she were to go along with the story about this being Neverland, then naturally, that would make this boy –

"I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Pan. And you are?" his eyes casually roved over her body and she stood there in shock. Maybe, just maybe this was all real, all true.

"No? Well, naturally, I already know who you are, Saffron. The question is, what are you doing here, in Neverland?" Peter started to stride off in the direction he came and Saffron followed him, seeing no other choice. "Oh, here."

Peter tossed a canteen over his shoulder and it landed in Saffron's hands. Without stopping to thank him, she threw down the water, feeling instantly relieved and wide awake.

"No need to thank me," he said as he entered the camp. It had taken her much longer than it should have to have gotten to where she was before. Obviously, he knew a short cut.

Unlike the previous night, boys of different ages and looks lounged around the camp, sharpening weapons, play fighting each other and sleeping.

Saffron recognized Edward, sitting excluded around the edge of the camp. Thomas was fighting with another boy and Felix sat by himself, sharpening his spear. When he noticed Peter and her enter the campsite, he stood up and made his way towards them.

"Boys!" Peter called and everybody stopped and turned to him obediently. "We have a guest tonight."

Saffron stared awkwardly at her feet, not liking the feeling of dozens of boys staring at her.

"Not another Wendy!" Someone daringly called.

"No," Peter glowered at the boy. "Not another Wendy. Definitely _not._"

Shocked at the dangerous tone of his voice, Saffron took a little step backwards.

_If Wendy Darling and Peter Pan were meant to be in love, what happened to them? _Saffron mused.

"Sit," he commanded and she quickly sat down on the nearest log. Felix went to sit next to her, but with a small shake of his head and a little smirk by Felix, he remained standing. Peter sat opposite her, and all of the boys were listening.

"So Saffron, what brought you here?" Peter leaned forward and stared her down. His eyes were filled with emotions she couldn't bring herself to understand.

Saffron opened her mouth, but closed it again like a goldfish. What had brought her here? Some sort of shadow boy?

_Peter Pan's shadow,_ Saffron reminded herself. It had been probably more than 10 years since she had read the story about Peter Pan.

He gave a tiny nod of his head to Felix, and Felix started to approach her, smiling wickedly. He thrust his spear out forward to intimidate her and it worked.

"I – I don't know," she spoke, her voice wobbling from a mix of shock, panic and lack of use. "It was your shadow, I think…"

She bowed her head, embarrassed.

"Ah, so she does speak!" Peter exclaimed and clapped his hands together. "Although that information was useless. Of course it was my shadow. Unless… no, that's impossible."

Saffron looked around in confusion, but no one seemed to have an idea of what was going on in his mind either. Peter beckoned over Felix and whispered in his ear. Felix nodded then roughly grabbed Saffron's arm.

"Wha – where am I going?" she cried as Felix roughly dragged her away from the camp.

"Back in to your cage. Pan has some things to do." Felix said and yanked her forward.

Meanwhile, Peter called the boys into multiple searching parties.

"Search every shore. If you see any boat you search it, take prisoners and burn the ship down. If there's anything of suspicion, report to Felix." And with that, Peter Pan turned away and marched into the forest.

* * *

_The little girl fell through the whirling portal and landed with a thump. She would most certainly have a bruise there now. She opened her mouth, filled her lungs with air, and started to wail._

_It was late at night and she had fallen in the middle of a big, pristine garden, right next to a pond filled with croaking frogs. At her arrival they had all hopped away._

_There was a gasp as someone rushed towards the toddler._

"_Where did you come from?" A young women cooed, picking up the girl. Almost instantly, the girl stopped crying in the woman's arms, comforted. She was reminded of her own mother, little did she know that Milah no longer lived. "Let's get you inside."_

"_Mama," the girl mumbled and looked around. Where was her mama? Where was papa? She longed for her parents to come and collect her from this strange land. She'd lived mostly on a boat, although she could recall land. But never had she seen frogs before, and so many plants and flowers._

"_Shh, it's ok. We'll get you back to your mama," the lady rubbed the girl fondly on the back. The woman was in her mid-twenties, with dark skin, soft, wavy black hair and big brown eyes._

_A few minutes later, they entered the back door of a very large house. It was the lounge room and in the corner, a gramophone played jazz music._

"_Now, what to do with you?" the woman murmured, swaying along to the music. Slowly, the girl fell asleep and was set down on the couch._

"_Honey, come down! Look what I found in the garden!" she called up the stairs. A man came down to the stairs and looked down at the girl on the couch._

"_You found her… in our _garden_?" he asked, shocked. "Who put her there?"_

"_I have no idea, but it was very cruel," she murmured, looking at the exhausted toddler fondly. "What should we do?"_

"_Call the police or around the neighbours, see if they saw anyone, or if their child is missing, I suppose," he said, a thoughtful hand on his chin. "How long had she been there for?"_

"_Well I was approaching the pond, and she suddenly appeared right next to it. It was almost like magic."_

"_It's late, Tia. Let her sleep here for tonight and in the morning we'll go and see Mama Odie for some help."_

_Tia, or Tiana, nodded in agreement._


	4. Chapter 3

**I want to say hi and also thank you so much for reading. In my original plan, this was more of a panfiction, but it's kinda turning into a felixfiction with some Pan in there... I don't know haha you'll find out when I post more chapters.**

**Thank you so much if you read this and especially if you post reviews. I'd love to hear what you think and what you think I can improve on! Thanks and enjoy :-)  
**

* * *

Saffron was thrown roughly back into her cage and quickly locked up before being left alone. She huffed and folded her arms, fed up. These psychos kidnapped her and just left her in a cage? What was the point of that? How did Peter know her name? If Peter Pan and Neverland were real, what else was?

After thinking for hours on end, her brain was aching. She leant against the bars, having already realised there was no chance of escape. After all, the whole knife debacle had obviously been a set up. A test. Saffron tilted her head, and through the trees she couldn't see the moon. It must've been a New Moon tonight.

She wondered, staring in the place where the moon was, if it was the same moon as in her world. Saffron was beginning to believe she could be in another place, another world. She never would've thought herself to be someone who believed in magic, but how else could she explain everything she'd witnessed?

"I'd go to sleep if I were you," someone said from the cover of the trees.

"Who's there?" Saffron asked, her voice wobbling.

The boy chuckled and stepped into the light. It was Felix.

"Oh, it's just you," she said, feeling strangely relieved.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Saffron Indiana Edwards. My parents loved culture." Saffron spoke proudly.

"Loved." Felix said.

"Huh?"

"You said _loved_. Do they not still love it? Or maybe, you're forgetting them already." A slow smile crept upon his face as he leant against a tree, his hood falling back to expose his face.

A pang of homesickness struck her at the topic of her parents.

"Love. They love, they still do. And they're waiting for me, for when I go back."

"Oh," he laughed quietly. "You're not going home. Not this time."

"What?"

"I said. _You're. Not. Going. Home._" He said it slowly, as if she were slow herself.

"No," she replied adamantly. "You said, and I quote, '_not this time'_. What's that supposed to mean?"

"I didn't say that," he spat. "Maybe you're a little exhausted."

"You did say that!" Saffron whined. "Don't treat me like I'm stupid!"

"Saffron," he said the name in a strange tongue, as if he were getting used to the name. "Saffron, Saffron. You won't ever know just how _stupid_ you actually are."

Felix was now standing in front of her cage, his face right in front of hers, with only bars separating them.

"And how very, very _whiny_ you are, too."

Saffron was speechless. She was entranced by the large scar across his face, and felt compelled to reach out and touch it.

"Where did you get it?" she whispered, intrigued.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he smirked and stepped back. There was something on his face, an emotion that Saffron couldn't recognize. It was strange, like a mix of regret, recognition, hatred and something else.

Saffron hadn't realised that she'd been gripping the bars with both hands and white knuckles. Felix noticed too and flashed her another strange look before quickly turning away, gripping a club and swinging it dangerously.

It was only after a few minutes after he'd gone, she began to wonder why he had come in the first place.

* * *

_She wrapped her arms around her mother Tiana and then her father, Naveen._

"_Promise you'll send us letters!" Tiana gave her daughter one last squeeze and she stepped back._

"_I will," she nodded solemnly. She pushed her nervousness down inside her._

"_Good luck, Sapphire," Naveen said and gave her a pat on the shoulder._

_Sapphire, named after her sparkling blue eyes, turned around, bluffing confidence, and strode off. She glanced once behind her and flashed a smile at her parents before continuing around the corner. They obviously weren't her parents, their skin colour differing drastically, but she loved them as if they were her biological parents._

_That was what this quest was for, to find her real parents. It wasn't that she wanted to replace Tiana and Naveen, it was just she was curious to as where she really came from._

_Today, she was across the bayou to visit Mama Odie. Tiana, as she had always called her, had told her how they found Sapphire, and how magic was involved in their past, so it was only fitting she go to a woman who was magical herself for answers._

_After a long and treacherous journey carrying many bags, aided only by the crocodile Louis, Sapphire arrived at the boat in the tree, where Mama Odie lived._

"_Ah, Maria, I knew you would come," Mama Odie sprung out of her chair when Sapphire climbed up the ladder. A snake slid across Mama Odie's arms._

"_It's Sapphire, Mama Odie. You know, Tiana's daughter?"_

"_Sapphire, Maria, it's all the same," the elderly but surprisingly sprightly woman walked towards a bathtub. "I knew this day would come, and I have something for you."_

"_Y-you do?" Sapphire asked, surprised. She had been expecting a big letdown._

"_Of course! I always have something, do I not?" Mama Odie grabbed Sapphire's arm and drew her closer. She pressed something into Sapphire's hand and stepped away._

"_Throw this into the swamp and then jump into the portal. Think with all your heart of what you need. And what you need most, you shall find."_

"_But Mama Odie, I don't know what I need. I want to find my true parents-"_

"_What you shall find, will be what you need. You have parents, do you not?"_

"_Yes, but-"_

"_Then why do you need to find your biological parents? They will not be as important to you as Tiana and Naveen. Your destiny shall be revealed with this bean, Maria."_

"_Why do you keep calling me Maria?" was the only question that came to mind. Sapphire was thoroughly confused. Surely what she needed and wanted was the same thing?_

"_All shall be revealed _if you use the bean_," Mama Odie whispered and Sapphire stared at the sparkling bean in her hand. It felt strangely familiar and she felt compelled to listen to Mama Odie and follow her instructions._

_When she looked up, Mama Odie was gone, but her pet snake ushered her to the trapdoor and Sapphire climbed back down the ladder, picking back up her bags._

_After all the goodbyes and travelling across the bayou, she couldn't just back down now. She had to go. Whatever it was in the portal, it was something she _needed_. _

_Taking a deep breath, she hurled the bean into the swamp. It was now or never, a matter of pride mixed in there as well. _

_After all of the hard work that her mother had taught her to do, she couldn't just throw it away. She had worked for all of that money, hoping it would fund her ways to finding her true parents, even though where she was going might not even use the same currency as hers._

_A large green portal formed in the swamp before her, and holding her breath and grasping the bags firmly in both hands, she jumped in._

_Screaming, she spun in the portal and landed with a painful bump. _

_Sapphire stood up quickly and brushed herself down proudly._

_She had arrived on a beach, and now her and her bags were covered in sand. From what she could see, Sapphire was on some jungle like island. She sighed, was this really where her destiny lay? It wasn't really what she had expected or wanted._

But maybe, _a voice inside her said, _it's what you need.

_Sapphire had always had to work hard to get what she wanted, but that didn't mean she didn't grow up in a nice house and a happy environment. Her mother had worked hard and got her happy ending, and that's what Sapphire wanted for herself too._

_There was a rustle from the trees in front of her and she approached the noise cautiously._

"_Who's there?"_

_A boy stepped out of the jungle, holding a club over his shoulder and a strand of straw between his teeth. A hood was pulled over his head and he leant against a tree, looking Sapphire up and down. His hood fell back, revealing dirty blonde hair._

"_Where am I?" Sapphire demanded._

_The boy chuckled. "You're in Neverland,"_

"_Neverland, huh?" she looked around, sneaking a glance at the boy himself. "What's your name?"_

"_My name is Felix," he said slowly and turned around. "Pan will be very interested to see you, Maria."_

_Felix walked into the jungle and Sapphire felt obliged to follow him, so she did._

"_I'm starting to think I have some kind of twin sister," she laughed a little, although it was quite a ridiculous idea. _

"_And why is that?" he drawled._

"_People keep calling me Maria." She stated simply._

"_And you think you're not Maria?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips._

"_I know I'm not Maria. My name is Sapphire."_

"_Quite fitting," Felix observed and she nodded in agreement._

_Sapphire brushed her raven black hair over her shoulder and elongated her strides to keep up with Felix._

"_So, where are we going?" Sapphire wondered aloud, readjusting the grip on her heavy bags._

"_To see Pan, of course," Felix responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world._

"_Of course. How did I not know that…" she muttered to herself._

_Felix smirked at her and pushed his way through the jungle. _

"_Stop," he commanded. "Dreamshade."_

_A dangerous looking thorned bush loomed in front of them, dripping black liquid._

"_One tiny prick and you're dead." He warned and they pressed on, carefully avoiding the poisonous plant._

"_Interesting," she murmured, eyeing the plant as they moved further away from it._

_Felix laughed a little bit and Sapphire looked at him suspiciously._

"_What's funny?" she demanded to know._

"_Don't you worry," he said as they entered into a camp._

_Sapphire shrugged to herself stopped next to Felix, placing down her bags._

"_It looks like we have a guest!" A teenage boy announced, standing up from a log. Lots of other boys stared at her and she folded her arms. "Looks like she's come to Neverland on holiday!"_

_The boy raised his eyebrow and smirked at Sapphire and her fully packed bags._

"_Maria, I take it?" he asked to Felix and Felix smirked a little._

"_She says her name is Sapphire."_

"_It _is_ Sapphire." She sighed._

"_But of course," the boy circled around her, eyeing her like a hawk. She sighed impatiently._

"_Alright boys," he announced. "Make her at home."_

_Two boys rushed up and took her bags while others ran into the jungle._

"_I'm Peter Pan, and I see you've met Felix already," Pan gestured towards Felix, who was chewing on the piece of hay thoughtfully._

"_So," Sapphire said. "Where do the girls live on this island?"_

_Felix chuckled and so did Pan. _

"_There are no girls on Neverland," Pan said._

"_Great, so I've gone and landed myself on an island full of teenage boys, where there are no other females," Sapphire raised her eyebrows._

"_We're a bit older than we look," Pan spoke. "See, on Neverland, no one grows any older. It's full of magic."_

_Sapphire perked up at the word magic._

"_Magic? You have real magic?" Sapphire gaped at them. This was her chance. Maybe Mama Odie didn't actually _have_ the thing she needed to find her parents, but these boys did._

"_Real magic," Pan confirmed in a low voice. Felix whispered something in his ear and Pan nodded. Felix walked off into the jungle and Sapphire had to say she was sad to see him leave._

"_Where's he going?"_

"_Just to visit a friend of ours. Don't you worry," Pan said and beckoned for her to follow once he started walking. A little way into the jungle from the camp, boys were building a tent. _

"_This is Thomas" he introduced a young boy of 14 to her and he smiled at her. She smiled casually back at him. "Anything you want, just ask him. You're our guest of honour."_

"_Nice to meet you, Thomas," Sapphire greeted him politely._

"_You too," he said and turned back to building her makeshift home._

_She turned back to look at Pan, but he had disappeared. Her bags were lying next to the half-finished tent and she shrugged. It was then she realised she forgot to ask Pan about finding her parents._

* * *

Peter sat next to her cage, looking in at her as if she were a monkey in a zoo.

"Tell me about your parents," he demanded. He kept shooting questions at her, but she refused to answer them. They folded her arms and turned away, focusing her sapphire blue eyes at a hole in a tree.

"You're so very stubborn," he sighed. "But what are you doing here is the real question…"

"No!" she yelled and Peter stepped back in surprise. "The _real_ question is _why you won't take me home!"_

Peter stepped forward and bended down in front of her.

"What, you don't think I've _tried _to take you home?" he hissed. "Having you here is the _last_ thing I need."

Saffron pushed herself into the opposite corner of the cage, frightened of him and his frequent mood swings.

A cruel smile appeared on his face and he laughed out loud.

"The funny thing is, you don't remember any of it," he whispered mysteriously. Saffron had to move closer to hear the words properly. "So now the board has been reset. And I get the first move this time. Last time, I let you survive out of pure _pity_. But now… you won't know what hit you."

Their noses were almost touching, they were so close. Saffron was drawn in by his enchanting words (although they made no sense to her), and the strange but enticing look in his eyes.

Peter stood up and smiled at her cruelly and with mixed emotions, Saffron fell backwards in confusion for the second time that night.


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry for taking ever to write this. I have ideas, but I keep forgetting them (maybe I should write them down). **

**Next chapter (after this) will hopefully have more Pan/Sapphire action and/or Felix/Sapphire/Saffron action (sorry if it's confusing haha).**

**Anyways, I will try update once a week. Thanks for reading/reviewing/favouriting/following. Hope you like it!**

* * *

The next day, Saffron was feeling exhausted and yet, still very confused.

What on earth was Peter Pan on about? What did that look in his and Felix's eyes mean? It was almost as if they knew her already, which they certainly did _not._

Yet Saffron couldn't push away the strange attraction that she felt towards them both.

"Alright, out of your cage," Thomas appeared, unlocking the cage and pulling her out.

She stretched her legs out and her stomach grumbled hungrily. Saffron blushed, a little embarrassed.

Thomas gave her a weird look she didn't understand. Why did everyone keep looking at her like she was an exhibition in a museum?

"Alright," he finally spoke after Saffron yawned and stretched her arms out. "Apparently I have to teach you how to hunt. Ridiculous, isn't it?"

He was mostly talking to himself than Saffron. As he shoved a bow and arrow into her arms, Peter and Felix were having a discussion a few kilometres away.

"Why don't we just send her back?" Felix asked slowly, rubbing two sticks together in a vain attempt to start a fire. He threw the sticks down, needing something else to occupy his hands.

"I need to know why she came, Felix. The shadow only brings lost children and takes them back in the morning. She's certainly not lost, I made sure of that. Nor is a child." Peter muttered, staring at his own hands. "This could ruin everything."

"Calm down. You're Peter Pan. Surely a normal teenage girl can't ruin _everything_," Felix reminded him.

"But she's not normal, is she,"

"You replaced her memories, of course she's normal now. It's a matter of whether something triggers her memories,

"Anything could trigger her memories," Peter muttered, mainly to himself. His mind worked quickly. "Stay away from her, Felix."

"What?" Felix drawled and looked up at Peter.

"If anything can trigger her memories, certainly being around you would be a trigger,"

Felix contemplated this. It was true, but was staying away from her so simple? She was a completely different person now, although the attraction and pull was still there. He wondered if _Saffron_ could feel it too.

"Felix," Peter said sharply, and drew his attention out of his thoughts. "Stay away."

"Aye aye, captain," Felix smirked at their inside joke.

* * *

Saffron was famished, yet Thomas pushed on.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked shyly. It was one of the few times she had spoken up.

"Well if you are, maybe you should actually try and _shoot_ one of these damned beasts," he replied grumpily.

Every time they saw an edible animal, Thomas took her arms and adjusted her bow and arrow for her, aligning it perfectly with the animal.

Each time a perfect opportunity to shoot arose, Saffron purposely missed, or made a noise to scare the animal away. She couldn't help it. Saffron didn't want to kill anything, she didn't want to take away an innocent life so she could live. It was incredibly selfish.

Saffron wasn't a vegetarian, but when she ate meat, it was already dead and cooked. There wasn't any of this messy and disturbing act of actually _killing_ the thing.

"I can't," she frowned, feeling a little pathetic.

_No, _Saffron reminded herself, _you're not pathetic just because you don't want to murder another living thing._

She was now contemplating wether to actually become a vegetarian.

"How else will you survive then?" Thomas pushed them further, looking for another animal. He spotted a deer not far off. "Give me those."

Thomas yanked the weapon out of her hand and quickly aligned the bow and arrow. He drew his arm back and the arrow went sailing through the air, landing right in the heart of the deer.

It made a terrible whining noise and fell to the ground. Blood leaked from its wound and it was soon dead.

"C'mon, help me lug this back to camp. We've almost made a full circle, so it won't take that long."

Saffron stared with wide eyes at the graceful animal which had only moments before been living and breathing. Now he was asking her to _carry the carcass?_ She wouldn't.

"N-no," she stammered defiantly, letting out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding in.

"Well what do you want me to do? I can't get it back myself." Thomas whined, sounding truly like a boy.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Saffron replied confidently.

"You're right,"

"I – I am?" Suddenly, a great wave of dizziness came over her and her stomach growled. She needed to eat.

"Yep, it's called blackmail," he grinned at her cockily. "If you don't help me get this back to camp, you can starve to death."

"What does it matter to you if I help you carry it? If we're that close to camp, you can just call one of your friends to come help you. After all, I'm _so_ hungry, I'm probably too weak to help anyway." Saffron folded her arms.

"You will participate and help out, Pan's orders."

"Oh really? Well if he's so powerful, can't he conjure up some food for you to eat?" Saffron's mood was swinging dangerously because of the lack of food and she was getting boosts of unexpected confidence.

"If he did, we'd all be lazy pigs."

"I'm not carrying the dead deer!" Saffron started walking away. She would find her own food.

Thomas chuckled. "Have a fun time out there. By the way, beware of the dreamshade."

She turned around to ask him what dreamshade was, but he'd already easily slung the deer over his shoulders and started to walk off.

Gaping, she turned away and started to walk the opposite direction. Inside, she knew it was a dumb idea. She had no idea where she was going, what dreamshade was, where the nearest water source was, if she could find food and she was also weaponless.

It was very, very stupid, but she continued anyway. There was no way they would let her come back and eat some of the deer she hadn't helped kill or carry.

"Hungry?" a voice said from behind her.

Saffron spun around in surprise. Behind her stood Peter Pan.

"Nice job you did, shooting that deer." He looked at her. "Straight in the heart, was it not?"

"I – I didn't shoot it. It was Thomas,"

"And why didn't _you_ shoot it?" he raised one eyebrow.

"Because I didn't want to…" Maybe she was pathetic.

"What a way to survive in the jungle!" he laughed at her. "Come. I have a job for you."

Her stomach grumbled and he sighed, but threw her some food. She didn't even bother to look before she started devouring it.

"Thanks," she murmured between mouthfuls. She had to quicken her pace to keep up with his long strides.

When she was no longer so hungry, she started to wonder what kind of job he meant.

* * *

"_Rise and shine," a voice spoke from outside her tent._

_Sapphire yawned and sat up._

"_What, is it morning already?" she moaned. Last night she had spent the entire time dancing with the other boys and now she was shattered._

"_Get up, girl," he chuckled, and she recognised it as Felix._

"_Fine, fine," she muttered, and pushed herself up. Her blouse and long skirt which she had arrived in and been swiftly swapped for leggings, a tunic, sturdy boots and a belt supplied with weapons, a canteen and a vial of what was supposed to 'enchanted water', to only be used in emergencies._

_When she exited her tent, Felix was still waiting for her._

"_Morning," she yawned again._

"_Someone didn't bode well with last night's festivities, now did they?" Felix smirked at her, amused. Sapphire scowled._

"_So what's on today's agenda, Felix?" Sapphire threw an arm around him and he glowered, annoyed. Sapphire hadn't known him 24 hours yet she already knew how to push his buttons._

_He shrugged her off quickly and she pouted. "Aw, does Felix not like me touching him?"_

_Sapphire laughed aloud as they walked back towards camp._

"_Actually, first I'd like to see Pan," Sapphire remembered._

"_Really?" Felix continued walking. "Whatever for?"_

"_And that, matey, is none of your business," she replied._

"_Where'd you pick that up from?"_

"_What, matey?" _

_Felix nodded and Sapphire thought about it. Now she did think, she couldn't put her finger on it, so she just shrugged._

"_Where did you pick up your suckish attitude?" Sapphire looked at him, laughter in her eyes._

_Felix turned away from her and they entered camp. Pan was sitting on a log, while other boys lounged around the place._

"_Does anyone actually do anything in this place?" she whispered to Felix. He chuckled and Pan stood up, making his way over to them. Felix melted into the jungle and now she could talk to Pan, one on one._

"_Your outfit is quite flattering," he cut in, looking at her up and down, smirking. _

"_Gosh, I'll send my regards to my stylist. Oh wait, that was you, wasn't it," she replied and copied him, taking in his own outfit. "Those boots really make your legs look longer."_

_He raised an eyebrow. "That's really the thing you complimented me on? Wow, I personally would've went for how the colour of my shirt brings out my eyes, don't you think?"_

_Sapphire laughed at their easily exchanged banter, but quickly got down to business. "You said you could do magic, yes?"_

"_Yes,"_

"_Can you help me find my parents? It's what I came here for in the first place."_

"_You came to Neverland, where there are no adults whatsoever, to find your parents?" he raised an intrigued eyebrow._

"_Well I didn't mean to turn up in Neverland. See, this mystical old magic lady from where I'm from gave me a magic bean. She said wherever it'll take me, I'll find what I need. Whatever that means." Sapphire rolled her eyes._

"_And you believe that, do you?"_

"_I don't know. I thought what I needed was to find my parents, but as you said, I won't find them here. Unless of course, you're secretly harbouring some adults," Sapphire broke out in an easy smile._

"_Interesting," Pan said slowly._

"_So can you help me?" she pushed._

_"I'll see what I can do," _

"_Thanks," beamed Sapphire and Pan cracked a smile too. Their proximity grew closer and they smirked at each other, their eyes daring each other to make a move. Standing in a camp full of other boys didn't faze either of them._

"_This is all very ironic," Felix broke through their silence, reappearing from the jungle._

"_What?" Pan said, his face emotionless, but his voice betraying the slightest bit of annoyance._

_It was only too easy for Sapphire to wrap boys around her finger._

"_What?" Felix responded in a low voice._

"_Are you mocking me, Felix?" Pan raised an eyebrow and folded his arms._

"_I mean, you don't already know?" Felix voice remained low and flat, but flicked from Pan to Sapphire in a split second. She almost missed it._

"_Know _what_?" Pan sighed impatiently._

"_The shadow has come back with the girl,"_

"_I thought you said there were no girls on Neverland," Sapphire cut in but Felix and Pan shot her a shut-up glare._

"_In the middle of the day?" Pan continued._

"_Apparently so. You best go see what's going on." Felix drawled and Pan quickly strode out of the camp._

"_So, who's this girl?" Sapphire followed Felix out of the camp._

"_That's none of your business, girl,"_

"_Aw, you're calling me girl now? I thought we'd moved past that, Felix." Sapphire joked and easily kept his pace._

"_I wonder how many times I'd have to hit you in the head with my club before you died." Felix responded monotonously._

"_Gosh, where _are_ you manners?" Sapphire tutted. "I'm going to have to take that away from you now."_

"_What?" he turned to her, smirking. _

_Suddenly, the club wasn't hanging from one hand and over his shoulder, but in Sapphire's hands._

"_How did you do that?" Felix narrowed his eyes._

"_Magic," she whispered mysteriously._

"_You shouldn't be able to do that,"_

"_C'mon, we're in Neverland, for God's sake! I thought anything was possible here! Here, try and get it back. Using magic, of course."_

_Felix closed his eyes. "I'm trying…"_

"_Stop. Don't _concentrate _as much. Just pretend it's in your hands. Feel the weight, the curves, the wood."_

_He rolled his now open eyes and yanked his club back. "Ridiculous."_

_Sapphire thought deeply. Why couldn't Felix do it? Surely he'd lived on this island for years and would know how it worked, or how to control its magic. She contemplated further. Sapphire would have to experiment on other boys, too._

"_What are you thinking about?"_

"_Huh?" Sapphire turned to him surprised at his question. They'd been walking, silent, for a few minutes now._

"_What are you thinking about?" Felix repeated._

"_Ah, the secrets of my mind are never to be revealed," Sapphire sighed, growing tired of their journey and his inability to provide interesting conversation. _

"_We're here," he announced soon. They were in a large meadow, with an ominous looking cave on the other side. Felix put a finger to his lips and pointed at the cave with the other._

_They walked backwards, out of the cave's hearing range._

"_Hunting." Felix stated._

"_Me?" Sapphire asked, surprised, but not afraid._

"_Do you think you can handle it, Maria?"_

_Sapphire sighed as Felix held out a bow and arrow she hadn't realised that had been slung over his shoulder._

"_I'm not Maria…" she muttered, but Felix didn't hear as she took the weapons._

"_Can you shoot?"_

"_I've never had the pleasure to try, no." she answered._

_."It's easy, here," Felix moved her arms and showed her how to hold the bow correctly._

"_Well this is romantic," Sapphire joked._

"_Quite," Felix replied dryly._

_A strange urge within Sapphire propelled her to _make_ the situation actually romantic, but she pushed it down. She was hunting for food, not boys._

_Felix's hand lingered over her own and she got shivers as she aligned her own bow._

"_Shoot at it," Felix pointed at a bird that was perching on a branch high in the trees._

_Without any qualms, Sapphire moved her aim towards the bird, and shot at it. It struck the bird dead on and the bird fell dead to the forest floor. Felix smirked at Sapphire with surprise._

"_Good job," he quickly turned away._

"_What can I say, I learnt from the best," _

"_It was most likely beginners luck. Let's see how you do against the Questing Beast."_

"_The what now?"_

_Felix smirked at her and Sapphire narrowed her eyes. Whatever this 'questing beast' was, she would kill it and wipe the smirk off his face._

"_The Questing Beast. One of the most fearsome and hardest to kill beasts in the whole of Neverland. Of course, Pan keeps it in check." Felix said. "Head of a dragon, body of a leopard, legs of a deer and tail of a lion."_

"_Sounds nasty." Sapphire tried to picture it in her mind. "So why am I trying to kill it?"_

"_Because it's a test. If you fail, you die. And I can laugh as it tears you to pieces and snacks on your remains." He added._

"_Don't worry," Sapphire rolled her eyes at him. "The feeling's mutual."_

_There was no way she could survive this, so she needed to think of a plan quick. She took account of her surroundings and Felix's belt caught her eye. She pretended it didn't._

"_So, how many kids do you sacrifice to this beast?" Sapphire stepped closer and Felix looked at her suspiciously._

"_Too many to remember," he replied slowly._

"_Really?"_

"_I take pleasure in hearing them scream," Felix said, a twisted smile on his flawless face._

_Sapphire wasn't at all shocked or freaked out, in fact, it quite made her even more attracted to him, in a weird way._

_Now they were very close and Felix's eyes were staring into her calculating blue ones._

"_What are you doing?" his voice was low and the sentence barely sounded like a question._

"_What? This?" Sapphire cocked her head to side, letting her glossy black hair fall to the side and slid her arms around his waist. "Or this?" She softly placed her lips where his strong jaw met his neck._

"_What are you doing?" he repeated._

"_You don't like it?" she murmured into his skin, planting kiss all over his neck._

"_We're all going to go hungry at this rate." Felix muttered._

_Sapphire had already distracted him enough to pick the dreamshade laced knife out of his belt, but she was quite enjoying herself anyway. Her arms wrapped around his neck and tugged at his blonde hair. She should stop, but she didn't want to._

_She pulled back._

"_Not enjoying yourself?" Sapphire pouted at him. He was staring straight ahead, as if he were bored._

"_You could've just asked for the knife, or some of your own dreamshade to lace your arrows with."_

"_But that wouldn't have been any fun, would it?" Sapphire tilted her head, frowning and unfazed._

"_Well if this is your idea of fun…" he raised his eyebrows and their eyes met again._

"_Aw, c'mon Felix. Humour me." Her arms still hung around his shoulders._

"_I'd rather watch you be brutally murdered."_

_Sapphire stepped back, a little shocked at his bluntness. Ok, that was a new level of rejection. A smirk played upon his lips._

"_Way to make a girl feel special," _

_He sighed. "Can we just wake up the beast and kill it."_

"_What would you rather die, me or the beast?"_

"_That would be easy, except the fact that I'm extremely hungry and not a cannibal. So I'll have to go with the beast."_

"_Aw, I'm flattered!"_

"_I'm bored now." He stated. _

_Sapphire sighed and a few moments later, she had given the knife back and laced her arrows with dreamshade. She felt she should be embarrassed, but she wasn't._

_They made quite a bit of noise, and Felix climbed up a tree, out of sight. Sapphire was sure he could still see her as she waited for the Questing Beast to venture out of the cave._

_And there it was, snorting and snarling, flames shooting from its nostrils. Sapphire cursed under her breath. Muscles rippled under its spotted skin and it leaped forward. It would reach her in a matter of seconds._

_She aimed the arrow at its heart and the Questing Beast saw her. It sprinted forward and Sapphire let the arrow fly. It embedded itself in the beast's heart, but not before it knocked her over and was standing on top of her._

_The air was being squeezed out of her by the weight of the enormous animal. The creature whined, dying fast. Sapphire weakly tried in vain to push the beast off her but she couldn't._

_It suddenly remembered about the meal underneath itself._

May as well have a dying meal,_ the animal thought as it feebly dipped its strong head down and sank its sharp razor like teeth into her upper arm. It tore at the flesh and muscle and chewed as its last lights went out, and it fell to the side._

_Sapphire could breathe again, but was in unimaginable pain. Her screams echoed around the forest and she glanced at her arm. It was a disgusting sight, her arm in two pieces._

"_Felix!" she screeched._

_A thump behind her was heard as Felix jumped from the tree. Not at all deterred by the disgusting and sickening sight of her arm he strode towards her._

"_You killed it. Good job." He moved to the dead beast and stared at it in awe._

"_Felix, please," she whispered, slowly dying from blood loss. "I…don't want… t-to die like this…"_

_Sapphire tried to fight the inevitable blackness that was coming, unsure if it was unconsciousness or death. _

_Felix glanced back at her and sighed, as if she was interrupting something important._

_He moved over to her and her eyes slowly closed, inviting the darkness. If it would take away the agony, then she would stop fighting. _

_So she stopped fighting._


	6. Chapter 5

The rest of the day passed quickly.

Peter had sent her out on a small boat with some other younger lost boys. These boys didn't glare or stare at her like the others did.

They were all rowing towards a larger ship, although Saffron wasn't rowing. Her clumsiness and her inability to use her arm muscles already caused them to lose one oar. All the boys thought it'd be better if she stopped trying.

"So," Saffron started tentatively. "Why does everyone else on this island seem to hate me?"

One boy shrugged. "Pan said not to say anything."

"Shut up! You weren't meant to say anything!" another hissed at him.

Saffron rolled her eyes. She'd never had siblings, but she felt this is what it'd be like if she'd had younger brothers.

"C'mon, you can tell me," she laced her voice with sugar.

"No." They both said in unison. All the other boys kept their mouths shut.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." Saffron folded her arms. If no one would let her go home, she would find out the truth and what was keeping her.

They reached the abandoned ship as the water got shallower. They were far from shore, but the water levels were uneven here. She could see that this ship had run aground and been abandoned.

"What exactly are we doing?"

A boy piped up. "Showing you what we do to Neverland trespassers!" he said in a sprightly tone. Saffron decided that she would call him Sprightly. A few other boys cheered at this.

"What's your name?" Saffron asked Sprightly.

"Slightly," he replied.

Saffron blinked. That was strange, how had she possibly chosen a nickname for someone she just met that was so similar to the real name?

A few minutes, they had tied the boat to the ship and climbed aboard the larger vessel.

"Alright boys," Slightly called. "Loot the ship!"

The others ran off in all direction, yelling and making animal noises.

"Whose ship is this?" She asked Slightly, who was looking at her expectantly. She could tell he was eager to move and steal some of the good things for himself.

He shrugged. "Probably Hook's. We've searched this before, but there's always more to be found. Today, Pan said we could burn it down this time!" Slightly bounced on the balls of his feet, excited.

"And where is Hook?"

"Probably left on another ship. One time we built him another ship, seeing as we wrecked the one he came in."

Saffron looked at him, surprised. That wasn't exactly the quintessential _Peter Pan hates Captain Hook _thing, but was anything she learnt about Peter and Neverland the same as in the stories she'd read?

Slightly had already bounded off by the time Saffron fought her way back to reality. She walked along starboard side up to the hull, trailing her hand across the wood, careful not to get splinters. She heard banging coming from the cabins below and felt a little ashamed that she was part of this defiling of a ship.

Before Saffron had come to Neverland, she'd never thought much of boats, but she found herself in awe of the craftsmanship of this particular one, and naming each part of the boat easily.

A sharp pain brought a hand to her temple. A head ache of sorts began to plague her, short pangs stabbing her mind. Saffron gritted her teeth in an effort not to cry out.

But it was gone as soon as it came. Saffron leant against the wood and closed her eyes, focusing on the relaxing lull of the waves, rocking the boat.

Peacefulness overwhelmed her, but was soon broken through by the small band of lost boys reassembling on deck, laden with treasure.

"Let's burn this baby!" Slightly yelled.

* * *

On the shore, Peter and Felix stood side by side, Peter watching Saffron clutch her head with her hands. Felix watched through a telescope, gritting his teeth.

"We'll have to keep her away from boats then, too," Peter chuckled. Although Saffron hadn't spent much of her life time on a boat, even the smallest things could be triggers.

Pan was experimenting, seeing what and what wouldn't trigger her memories. He had tried to get the shadow to take her back, but it wouldn't. Pan had tried teleporting her, but that didn't work either, and he couldn't run the risk of leaving the island, especially now.

"Just keep her in the cage then," Felix replied bitterly.

"Now now, Felix," Pan laughed as Felix put the telescope into his cloak. The first few flames started to lick up the boat. "I'm just having a little fun."

Felix shrugged, Pan was right. Besides, she'd endured much worse than a few headaches, even if she didn't remember it. But he couldn't help asking. "If she ever gets all her memories back -"

"Which she _won't_," Pan interjected.

"What will it feel like?" Felix finished.

"The worst mental torture you can imagine. A thousand knives, ripping through your brain to insert every _single_ memory back where it belongs. I doubt she'd even survive. Which is why I'm doing it for you as much as for me."

Felix smirked a little, imagining Sapphire writhing in pain on the filthy ground. He didn't like seeing this more innocent Saffron in pain, but Sapphire – well, that was another story.

"That's more like it," Pan laughed at Felix's expression. Smoke swirled above the waters and the smaller boat made its way back to shore.

"So, why are you risking her regaining her memories?" Felix asked, all the workings of Pan's mind not yet revealed.

"If she's stuck on the island, she may as well make herself useful," Pan turned around and started to walk back into the jungle. Felix kept up with him easily, but restrained himself from passing Pan with his longer legs. "So, I can see what and what doesn't make her remember, and set her jobs."

"Oh," Pan stopped. "She also needs to be punished for not helping Thomas before. No one disregards my orders."

"Pan never fails," Felix recited.

* * *

_Bright light shone through her thin lids and her eyelids flicked open. A dull throbbing in her arm reminding her of what she last remembered happening. The Questing Beast nearly killing her._

_More memories flooding back, the pain especially. She squeezed her eyes back shut, not liking that memory of excruciating agony._

_And Felix. Felix rejecting her. Felix ignoring her body on the floor. All she could see in her mind was Felix._

_But then she realised that her eyes were open and she was staring at Felix in the face. He was leaning over her, and she blinked, surprised._

"_She's alive," he called down. They were in a tree house that Sapphire presumed to be his own and she lay on a hammock. _

"_No thanks to you," Sapphire murmured and tried to push herself up. Her arm was suddenly once again inflamed in pain. A hand shoved her back down._

"_Lie back," Felix commanded._

_She obliged and closed her eyes._

"_I called Pan and he healed your arm," _

"_Doesn't feel healed," she groaned._

_Through half closed eyes, she saw Felix smirk. _

"_Pan's magic can only partly heal what damage the island has caused you. That water on your belt, on the other hand…"_

"_Well why didn't he bloody use it?"_

"_That's only to be used in dire situations," he warned gruffly._

"_What, and me dying wasn't a dire situation?"_

"_Not the _way _you were dying,"_

_Sapphire shrugged, not understanding._

"_Why am I in your… place?" She struggled to find a word to fit his tree house._

"_The ground was unsafe for you and your… predicament. Neverland at night is dangerous. Couldn't have you out there, unprotected and unable to defend yourself." Felix smirked a little and Sapphire could only begin to imagine the sick things _he_ was imagining._

"_Or maybe, you just wanted me in your bed," she replied weakly._

_Before she knew it, Felix's face was inches from hers. His lips brushed against her jaw and made their way up to her ear. Sapphire shivered a little and closed her eyes again._

"_You wish," he whispered and he swiftly turned away and jumped out of the trapdoor._

_Sapphire gripped the fabric of the hammock in frustration. _

_She wasn't shallow, but she knew she was pretty enough to get her way with boys. Tiana had raised her to believe in hard work, and she did, but she also believed that a little bit of manipulation could help too. Most people fell for it. Even Pan had gone with it, although he probably had his own agenda. But not Felix. He was a challenge. Sapphire liked challenges._

_But now was not the time for challenges, now was the time for sleeping, and that's what she intended to do._

_After he'd jumped down, Felix remembered he'd forgotten his club. Of course, he couldn't just go up and get it. Sapphire would definitely have something to say about it._

_But then again, what did he care what Sapphire said or thought? He climbed up the ladder, hoisting himself back onto the wooden platforms and grabbed his club. Surprisingly, Sapphire had already fallen asleep. _

_Before when he had taken her up here, he hadn't looked at her at all. She had been getting on his nerves the whole day. Felix hadn't really expected her to go after the Questing Beast. Usually the others ran for the hills and got killed. But no, she had to survive. _

_This time, she wasn't groaning in pain while she slept and being so loud and annoying, but lying on her side, curled up, her eyebrows scrunched together. Felix looked at her for a few more moments before turning back around and jumping out of the treehouse once more._

_When she awoke once again, she felt regenerated enough to stand up. She was still in Felix's tree house and it was dark outside. Well, it was always dark in Neverland, but not it as definitely night time. Crickets chirped, stars twinkled and bushes rustled. _

_A snore brought Sapphire's eyes to the corner of the treehouse, where Felix was slumped against a wall on a mountain of clothes, his head resting on his chest. He looked incredibly adorable, all traces of anger, bitterness or sarcasm wiped from his face. _

_Sapphire swung her legs over the hammock and strolled over to Felix. She had only known Felix for a couple of days, but the more she saw him, the more her feelings grew. Sapphire would get what she wanted._

_Sighing, Sapphire turned around and left the treehouse. All the other Lost Boys had retreated to their treehouses, but the embers of the fire still glowed._

_A boy was sitting on the log still, clasping and unclasping his hands. It was Pan._

_Sapphire sat next to him, disregarding the fact he looked completely immersed in his thoughts._

"_I searched for your parents," Pan spoke up._

"_And?" Sapphire moved closer to him, crossing her fingers for the best._

"_I couldn't locate them in any of the realms. I'm sorry."_

"_So… they're dead,"_

_Pan nodded. Sapphire deflated. All of this, for nothing. They were dead, possibly since she was a young girl. She had left her loving family back in New Orleans, for an island of reckless boys who confronted her with deathly challenges._

"_You know, Mama Odie could have just _told_ me they died, instead of all this crap." Sapphire jumped up and paced around the fire pit. Pan watched her carefully._

_Ever since she was little, she longed to meet her real family. Would they be nice? Would they love her? Did she have siblings? What really happened the night Tiana found her?_

_Everything had gone up in smoke now._

_Sapphire raged around the camp, cursing and she withdrew a sword from its sheath. She swung at trees and vines, slashing and panting with exertion. Her other arm lay limp by her side._

_She felt a hand touch her arm and she spun around and glared at Pan._

"_Can't you see I'm busy taking my anger out on the wildlife?" she hissed._

"_Shh," he commanded and they both listened. Waves crashed in the distance. "Do you hear that?"_

"_Yeah, why?"_

"_You can never hear the waves from here. We're too far from the shore." He took his hand from her arm._

"_So?" Sapphire folded her arms. _

_The waves were slowly getting quieter._

"_Are you angry still?"_

_Sapphire narrowed her eyes at him. What was his point?_

_He started to stride into the forest and Sapphire followed him, using long strides to match his pace._

_Neverland parted for Peter Pan. Vines, trees and nasty looking plants all drew back to clear a path for him. They grew back quickly and Sapphire had to try and avoid them._

_They reached the sea quickly. Too quickly. The tide had come in way too far, and trees were drowning in water._

"_What?" Sapphire knelt down and felt the water. She brought a finger to her mouth. It was definitely sea water. Inside her, she felt a strange tug to dive in. The urge grew stronger inside her._

_She swung her sword around to Pan, pushing him against a tree. Her face right in front of his._

"_Are you doing this?" she hissed, her sword pressed to his neck._

_He chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Doing what, may I ask?"_

_Sapphire narrowed her eyes. "Stop it."_

"_Stop _what?_" Pan smirked at her. _

"_Something's pulling me towards the ocean," Sapphire said, pushing her sword harder against Pan's neck. It seemed to amuse him further. "Why did you bring me here?"_

"_Because," Pan waved his hand over the sword and it turned into water, which soaked them both. "You did this. The angrier you got, the stronger the waves were. You partly flooded the island." Pan chuckled and Sapphire stared at the water. _She_ had done this?_

"_So you're saying that I have some weird magic and control of the sea, and that my anger powers it?"_

"_Powerful magic is sourced by hate, Maria," he said and Sapphire brushed aside the use of the name _Maria_._

"_What about love?" she whispered. They had moved within inches of each other once again, although this time the mood had changed. Sapphire shoved the urge to touch the water down below her._

"_What about love?" Pan smirked and raised an eyebrow. Sapphire grinned and their lips collided. _

_Her hands tangled in his short hair and he shoved her against a tree roughly._

_Whilst they were aggressively kissing, a number of thoughts flew Sapphire's head of why this shouldn't be happening._

_Firstly, she had just found out her biological parents were dead._

_Secondly, she just found out that she had some power over the ocean._

_Penultimately, she had only just met this guy._

_And finally, Peter Pan was probably hundreds of years older than her._

_But it just seemed to make sense. Neither of them had any real feelings for each other, anyway. _

He must sure get lonely on this island with no other girls, _Sapphire chuckled to herself._

_Her legs were around his waist and Sapphire moaned loudly. Peter chuckled and moved his lips to below her ear, where he sucked on the skin sharply. She hissed and tugged violently at his hair._

"_Peter?" a voice called. Immediately, Pan had pulled away from Sapphire and left her panting against the tree._

_A girl peeked around a tree. She wore a night gown and her blonde hair was bushy and curly._

"_I thought you said there were no other girls on Neverland?" Sapphire asked, looking at this new girl who looked only a bit younger than her, but you could never tell on this island._

_Pan shot her a menacing glare that actually made Sapphire step back._

"_Peter, why were you kissing her?" this new girl spoke, her bottom lip trembling._

"_Wendy, I didn't know you would be here." Pan's face was blank._

"_The shadow just brought me," Wendy said. "Whenever I'm not here, do you court other girls, Peter?"_

_A stray tear escaped Wendy's eye but she wiped it away fiercely. "Make the shadow take me home. My brothers need me."_

_Peter walked up towards Wendy and took her hands. She pulled away tentatively. "Who is she?"_

"_She's nobody, Wendy." Pan took her hand again and kissed it softly. "I can explain everything later."_

"_But Peter -" Wendy began to protest, a feeble attempt to stand her ground._

"_Here," Pan cut her off. "I have some left over dust." He tugged at his necklace and a vial filled with green dust came off the chain._

"_But that's the only bit left," she took the vial and examined it._

"_For you." Pan grinned at her, a twinkle in his eyes._

_Sapphire rolled her eyes. In a way, she felt sorry for Wendy. She was obviously deeply in love with Pan, and if Pan had just been kissing Sapphire like that, she doubted he felt the same. But the fact that he was giving up the last of his pixie dust must've meant something._

_They had disappeared into the jungle, and Sapphire was by herself. The water had quickly receded and was a little bit of a walk away. Try as she might, she couldn't summon the rage she was feeling before. Anger still boiled in the pit of her stomach, but it was infused with sadness and disappointment now._

_Her arm throbbed and she decided to make her way back to camp. Trying to find her way back was difficult, especially now she had to cut through the plants._

_It was pitch black now, and Sapphire was squinting. She knew that it would be dawn soon, but it was unsafe for her to be on the ground for so long at night._

_Finally, torches from the camp found her and she entered._

_She debated whether to go to her own tent, or back to Felix's treehouse. Sapphire chose Felix's._

_Pulling herself up the ladder with her good arm, she saw the hammock was still free. Maybe it was best to pretend she'd never left in the first place. Settling down, she closed her eyes._

"_What are you doing?" A voice came from the corner. Felix._

"_Sleeping."_

"_What's wrong with your own tent?" _

"_Your hammock is more comfortable. Feel free to share if you want."_

_Something hit her head. She yelped in pain. "What was that?"_

"_Next time it'll be a dagger." He warned._

"_Hey," Sapphire propped herself on one elbow. "Did you know that Pan's harbouring a girl?"_

_There was silence for a few moments. _

"_Her name's Wendy," she pushed._

"_Yes."_

"_Is she Pan's girlfriend? They seemed pretty attached. Well, at least she did."_

"_The shadow brings Wendy every fortnight to Neverland. Her and Pan spend some time together."_

"_Look at us, Felix," Sapphire laughed. "Gossiping at a sleepover."_

"_This isn't a sleepover, nor are we gossiping." He responded in monotone._

_Sapphire sighed. "Try showing some emotion."_

"_Try shutting your mouth." Felix retaliated._

"_Hmph," Sapphire turned to one side. "Goodnight."_

"_It'll be morning soon."_

"_I said good_night_." She snapped and closed her eyes. The emotions of the rest of the night bubbled over and sleep took over for the last time that night._


	7. Chapter 6

**This is a very short chapter (which is why I'm updating early), but I'll post the next one soon.**

**WARNING: Contains so torture, so don't read if you don't like that kinda stuff. The next chapter will still make sense, although just know Saffron gets tortured by Pan.**

* * *

Peter Pan walked through Neverland. He was leaving the camp, after giving the Lost Boys instructions for tonight's festivities on the beach. But first, he had somewhere to go.

He approached a cage. "Wendy?"

"Yes…?" a small voice replied. "What is it?"

"Here," he bent down and opened the cage. Looking at the girl, he tossed her a small sack full of food and fresh water.

"Thank you," Wendy opened the bag and took a small look inside. "What – What about my brothers? Are they okay?"

"Yes," Peter replied shortly. He looked at Wendy, she was in a bad way. Her hair knotted and wild, her frame skinny and underfed, her eyes sunken with dark circles. Yet she was still beautiful.

A wave of anger took over Peter and he clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. Wendy recognised these signs and pressed herself against the back of the cage.

"Thank you," she repeated timidly. Peter slammed her cage shut and turned away, anger boiling within him. He knew exactly who he would take it out on.

* * *

The skies were darkening now and the ship burnt bright in the distance. Peter had decided to bring the camp to the shore, so they could all admire the flaming ship. Tents had quickly been established, as well as a new fire pit and some logs for seating.

Saffron sat on the beach, away from the others. Some were eating the deer, some were playing in the water, and some were just lounging about, admiring the view.

She couldn't join in with any of them. Not all of them shunned her, she probably could've joined in if she wanted. But she didn't want to. She was an outcast, she didn't belong. Saffron wasn't a lost girl, she had loving parents back at home. She wondered, would they be worried about her absence? Of course they would.

Someone stood behind her. "Get up," Peter commanded, but grabbed her arm and hauled her up before she had a chance. She felt eyes on her from the camp fire. Felix was watching them carefully.

"Ouch – hey – get off me!" Saffron tried to swat Pan away but he just tightened his grip and hauled her across the sand.

More boys stopped to watch and Peter shoved her roughly forward. She fell onto the sand, her hands scraping on rocks.

"Boys!" Peter yelled to the boys in the water, calling them in. "The real fun is about to begin." He smiled sadistically at Saffron, the anger inside him brewing and bubbling. The beast within was coming out to play.

Saffron's black hair fell back as she sat up, kneeling. Her blue eyes flicked to Pan, scared of the wild look in his eyes. "Please," she whimpered.

She looked around the camp for salvation, but none was to be found. All the other boys seemed to be excited. They stared at her and Pan, grinning and yelling. Only Felix didn't seem happy. His eyebrows were knitted together and his hood cast shadows over his face.

"Stand up," Pan ordered. This time, he let her get up. Saffron backed away. He looked completely demonic. The boys yelling and shouting grew louder.

Peter grabbed her shirt and pulled her close to him so their chests were touching. She felt his hot breath on her face.

"I've been waiting _so_ long for this," he whispered, his lips grazing her ear, sending shivers down her spine. He stepped back.

He flicked his outstretched hand and Saffron went flying in the air. Gravity gripped her again and she fell straight back to earth. Saffron landed in a heap and groaned.

"Peter," she began, although her voice was lost through the shouts and whistles of the boys.

He pushed her onto her back and straddled her. Saffron's breaths grew quicker. She had never been so scared in her life.

Peter grabbed her left arm, turned it over and unveiled a small dagger from his belt. The cheering filled her head, but Pan shushed them all.

The cool blade touched the inside of her arm, on the base of her wrist.

"This is how long I've wanted to do this," his forehead rested on hers. A stray tear escaped Saffron's eye and Pan laughed at her. The blade dug in.

"1," he called out and draw a line with the dagger, drawing blood. Saffron yelped loudly and turned her head to the side, squeezing her eyes shut.

"2," the second cut was drawn above the previous one.

"3," The rest of the boys started chanting the numbers with him.

"4," Saffron screamed out and warm blood trickled down her pale skin.

"5," Pan chuckled and Saffron attacked him with her right arm, to no avail.

"6," Her legs kicked out as he continued the torture.

"7," he laughed out loud and others joined in.

"Please," she sobbed.

But he didn't stop. He continued all the way up her arm.

"And, last but most _definitely_ not least, 17!" he yelled and cut her soft flesh one last time. The Lost Boys cheered and whistled as Saffron lay crying on the ground, her arm bleeding profusely.

Just like the boy he was, the more he was goaded, the more he continued. The logical and conniving Peter Pan was not there anymore. Now it was his demonic and sadistic side's turn. Peter was having fun.

"Get up," he yelled and circled her like a predator circles its prey. Saffron shook her head. "I _said_ get up!" With a flick of his wrist, Saffron was on her feet, like a puppet. Peter's hand fell to his side and Saffron almost fell down again, her legs weak.

"Why are you doing this?" she choked out. She couldn't bear to look at her arm, she was squeamish when it came to blood.

"Because you deserve it," he hissed. "Now, what do you think of the name Chelsea?"

Saffron looked at him and some of the boys quieted down, not sure of what he had planned now.

Peter was in her face again, the knife pressed against the left corner of her mouth. Peter dug the dagger in and drew up the side of her face. Saffron almost screamed.

She wanted to, but she knew what would happen then.

Pan laughed and drew another one on the other side. Over his shoulder, Saffron saw Felix stand up. He caught her eyes, and she tried to plead with him.

His expression was blank as he turned away and left.

"Chelsea… smile!" Peter Pan's laugh was deranged as his fist collided with her stomach and Saffron screamed, her mouth opening, along with the cuts on her face. They spread open and blood spilled freely. Her screams echoed throughout Neverland, and not even Felix could escape them.

It was always unfortunate for whoever was on the receiving end when Pan was in one of his moods.

Lost Boys yelled and whooped as Pan walked away victorious, with Saffron lying in a pool of her own blood, sand filling her wounds. Some other boys, especially the younger, newer Lost Boys looked a bit sick, but they joined in the cheering anyway.

Blackness shrouded Saffron's vision and she quickly welcomed the darkness.


	8. Chapter 7

It was pitch black when Saffron came to, and at first, she wasn't sure if she was awake or not. But then the sickening pain stabbed her in the arm, stomach and face. Tears welled in her eyes and she started crying, but the salt only stung her facial wound.

Saffron wanted to go home. She wanted to be with her parents. Her parents… what were their names again? Saffron hiccupped, how could she not remember the two people that meant most to her?

She started choking on her sobs, and almost passed out again.

There was a rustling from the bushes and a figure came towards her. She was lying on her side on the sand, and in the dim moonlight she could see the Lost Boys asleep at the campfire.

If they were all asleep, who was coming towards her?

_It must be Peter,_ Saffron thought and tried to scramble backwards to get away from him. But that just made her cry out.

"Shut up," the figure hissed. It wasn't Pan. "Do you want to wake up the others?"

"Wh-who's there?"

"It's Felix," he whispered, and pressed something into Saffron's hand. "Drink it."

"What is it?" Saffron mumbled. She wasn't exactly pleased it was Felix, but anyone was better than Peter.

"It'll heal your wounds," Felix replied shortly.

Saffron brought the thing she was holding to her lips, trying to avoid it touching the sides. She drank. It tasted like plain water, but immediately her pain lessened.

"Thank you," she gasped. Quickly, the water coursed through her body and closed all her wounds. "Felix – how?"

"There's a spring up on Dead Man's Peak, the water has healing properties," he said quietly.

"Thank you," was all she could say. Feeling regenerated, Saffron stood up, but she fell against the rock again. Obviously, her legs hadn't recovered from the shock.

"Where are you going?" Felix asked.

"Well I'm not staying in this psych ward," Saffron whispered to him, and steadied herself.

"What?"

"Never mind," she muttered and took a step forward.

"You'll get yourself killed," Felix growled.

"Yeah, and what do you care? You left me with Pan before, and didn't seem to care," she looked at him with sad eyes, although the darkness prevented them from seeing each other clearly.

"Firstly, I only just got back from Dead Man's Peak. See that? That's where the spring was," he pointed to a dark silhouette in the sky. "And do you really think I could've stopped Pan? No one stops Pan. Peter Pan never fails."

Felix turned away and strode off angrily.

"Wait, Felix, wait!" she whisper shouted a tried to follow him. He was walking too fast for her to keep up, and in the darkness, she had already lost him in the jungle.

"Felix!" Saffron yelled a bit louder now, as she walked away from the beach. A few moments later, Saffron was completely lost. She leant against a tree and sighed. She felt the hysteria bubbling up inside her.

Why had she been so stupid? The one person who had actually helped her, she'd just pushed away.

A pair of bright eyes shone in her face. Saffron recognised them; they were the shadow's, the thing that brought her here in the first place.

She flinched away from it instinctively.

"Time to go back into your cage," it said.

"T-take me home," Saffron stammered.

"Time to go back into your cage," it repeated and its cold hand grasped her arm.

"No, please," she tried to pull away, but its grip strengthened as it pulled her into the sky. "Felix!"

For some reason, his name was the first one she screamed. And she did scream, with all her heart. Saffron wasn't going to be completely helpless and trapped in a cage again, at Pan's mercy.

They were clearing the tree tops now, but a flaming arrow soared through the trees and hit the shadow in the chest, it recoiled and let go of Saffron, leaving her to fall through the jungle.

She hit multiple trees, and one branch whacked her on the head, shoving her back into unconsciousness.

Her body finally broke through the branches and she fell straight into Felix's arms. He was forced onto his knees by the weight and momentum of her body. He slung his bow over his shoulder and picked Saffron up.

Felix looked at her battered body and sighed, starting to walk back towards camp. He was taking her to her cage.

He knew how the shadow worked, it did Pan's bidding, and Felix knew Pan didn't plan on leaving Saffron alive for much longer.

But in the morning, Pan would've calmed down, and perhaps would leave Saffron alive. After all, she could be an important bargaining chip for Pan's plan.

As he walked through the forest, he knew for him it was more than that. No matter what Sapphire had done to him, this wasn't she. This was Saffron. The same girl, yet so, so very different.

Felix drew his eyes away from her pallid and bruised complexion and reached the camp. He continued onwards and arrived at her cage.

He opened it and placed her inside, closing the door once again.

With one last glance at her seemingly lifeless body, he turned around and walked away.

* * *

"_You're to keep her busy, understand?" Pan told Felix, who nodded. "Keep her distracted, at all costs. Take her to the far side of the island, and do some target practise or something."_

"_When should we return?" Felix asked bitterly._

"_You'll hear the call," Pan said dismissively. He knew that Felix didn't want to spend any more time with Sapphire than he had to, but Felix was the only Lost Boy that Pan thought was strong enough to keep Sapphire away from the north shores._

_Felix turned away and angrily stormed through the jungle, back to the camp. When he left, Sapphire had still been asleep. In _his_ hammock, leaving Felix to sleep on an uncomfortable pile of clothes._

_But Felix wouldn't complain to Pan, no. He was too proud._

_Rubbing his sore neck and holding his club with the other, he approached his tree house. No one was allowed up there but him. Until Maria, or Sapphire, rather, had come to the island._

_He hated her with a burning passion, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing that he felt something for her. That he let her bother him. That he acknowledged her presence._

_Once he had climbed up the tree house he picked up a bow and arrow and threw them at her. She grunted and awoke, squinting her eyes._

"_What's your problem?" she groaned and stretched out, yawning._

"_You have 5 minutes to get ready, and then we're leaving," he said._

"_Leaving? Going where?" she questioned._

"_Maybe if you hurried up, you would find out," he snarled._

_Before Sapphire could respond, he'd already gone._

_Sapphire closed her eyes, deciding to use Neverland's magic to her advantage. She imagined herself wearing clean clothes. Her wishes granted, Sapphire grabbed the bow and arrow and left the tree house._

_Felix looked at her. Her clothes differed a little to the ones she had been wearing only a minute ago. He narrowed his eyes and turned away._

_Her stomach grumbled and Sapphire grinned, holding her hand out and granting herself a pear._

_Making a note to himself, Felix would be sure to ask Pan about that._

_They had been walking for an hour when Sapphire started to complain._

"_Are we there yet?"_

_Felix ignored her._

"_Are we there yet?"_

_Felix slashed a branch out of the way with his club._

"_Are we there yet?"_

_Felix quickened his pace, blocking out her voice._

"_Are we there yet?"_

_Sapphire chuckled, glimpsing his angry face._

"_How much longer?" She changed the question._

"_Not much," he responded, gritting his teeth in order to keep his voice even._

"_How about we play a game? I spy, maybe?"_

"_No."_

"_Aw, c'mon Felix. I'll start," Sapphire grinned. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'a'. Four words. The first two both begin with 'a'."_

"_I'm not playing."_

"_Don't be a spoil sport! I thought you Lost Boys were all about games."_

_He ignored her, breathing through his nose, quite like an angry bull._

"_Alright, I'll tell you. The answer was 'an angry Lost Boy'," Sapphire snickered to herself._

_Felix was starting to regret calling Pan to heal her arm the previous day._

_She shut up for a while after that, much to Felix's delight. In another hour or so, they had arrived at their destination. A number of targets tacked to trees drew Sapphire's attention._

"_Is this what we're doing? Target practise?" she asked, surprised._

"_No, we're collecting firewood," he replied, his voice drowning in sarcasm._

"_No need for that tone of voice," she tutted, and swung her bow to her front._

* * *

_The next few hours they spent taking out their anger on the targets. Sapphire was quite handy with a bow and Felix could hurl daggers like there was no tomorrow._

_A bird called. Although it wasn't a bird, it was another Lost Boy. Felix listened carefully._

_Trouble. The tides had changed drastically for no apparent reason, and the ship was now heading towards the south shore. _

_Felix closed his eyes, from where they were standing, they could see the beach and the choppy water. The ship would sail right to where they were._

_And right at that moment, Sapphire stopped, panting. Her eyes were drawn to the inviting looking waters. "I'm going to cool off." She stated, before heading towards the water._

"_No," he said abruptly and Sapphire turned around, raising her eyebrows. "We're not finished."_

"_On the contrary, matie. I'm very finished." She continued on her way. "Unless you want to join me?"_

"_Stop," he commanded and walked after her._

"_Why? It's just the ocean." Sapphire was actually looking forward to seeing how she could use her powers, and now would be a great time. She was almost at the sand._

_A small knife whizzed past her ear and landed on the ground in front of her. She whirled around._

"_What was that for?"_

"_I told you to stop." _

"_You didn't tell me _why_." She countered. Felix reached her and grasped her arm, dragging her away from the shore._

"_Get off me," she punched his arm._

_His grip strengthened._

"_I just want to go in the sea! What's your problem?" Sapphire pushed herself off him._

"_There's murderous mermaids in that part of the sea," he lied, desperate to not let her see the ship that was slowly passing through the sea and in their line of view._

"_Yeah, and since when did you care if I died? I kind of got the vibe you hated me." She rubbed her arm, as if to further prove her point._

_Sapphire was turning around, and for Felix, it seemed to happen in slow motion. He had to do something and quick._

_Felix shoved her against a tree and crashed his lips to hers, grasping her blouse with extreme force._

_For a moment, Sapphire didn't move. She was so overcome by his actions, she just stood there in shock. But then she reacted. Her hands wound around his neck and found their way to his hair._

_At first, Felix thought that it was a bid to escape, so he pressed her harder to the tree. She cried out in pain and pleasure at the same time, and something stirred within Felix._

_Her hands pulled violently at his hair and her tongue slipped into his mouth. Felix moaned and he felt something he'd never felt before. His previous list of emotions included loyalty to Pan, pride, anger, annoyance and excitement. But this, this was a strange feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach and he wasn't sure whether or not he liked it. His rough hands slipped up her blouse and rested on her soft skin._

_Sapphire heard a bird call, and Felix pulled away from her, and their foreheads rested on each other's, getting their breath back._

Maybe, _Sapphire thought, _he wasn't such a challenge.

_Felix stepped back quickly, as if Sapphire were a hot coal. He glanced towards the ocean. _

_The call was reassuring. All clear. They couldn't come back until Pan had spoken to the captain, but it should be soon._

_He looked over at Sapphire, who was leaning against the tree for support. Her face flushed, lips swollen, looking lost in thought._

"_What was that about?" she finally broke the silence._

"_What was what about?" he replied coolly._

_Sapphire glared at him. He smirked at her. "You kissed me," Sapphire stated._

"_Really?" Felix pondered for a moment. "I can't seem to remember that happening."_

"_Well I do. And regardless of how much either of us enjoyed it, you were distracting me from something. I'm not stupid." She added._

"_I beg to differ," he muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes._

"_Well, what was it?"_

"_I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe you're a little confused, due to lack of oxygen."_

"_Because you kissed me! And," Sapphire sighed. "If you weren't kissing me to distract me… you must have been kissing me because you have hormonal induced urges." She whispered the last part and Felix rolled his eyes at her._

"_Which was it, Felix?" she demanded, folding her arms._

_Now, it was a choice between his pride, and Pan's orders. Of course, Pan always came first._

"_What can I say, I'm a boy," he drawled. "And with you desperately throwing yourself at me, how could I _possibly_ resist?"_

"_I was _not _desperately throwing myself at you!" Sapphire replied indignantly. "Besides, you resisted me yesterday, so you're lying."_

_Felix rolled his eyes. Their conversation ended here._

"_You're impossible," she muttered and picked her bow up from the floor._

_He heard the call which meant they could return, and they headed back towards camp. Felix fell behind and he watched Sapphire angrily slash the plants and power ahead. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach. _

_It was disturbing him, and he wanted rid of it. Trying to calm himself, he closed his eyes, imagining all of the cruel things he could do to the people he hated. _

_Soon, he got to Sapphire. Usually, these sickening visions played so easily in his mind, but now he felt uncomfortable. Felix opened his eyes and growled quietly. _

_Stupid girl, that's why Neverland was a boy's only island. Until Pan had become fond of Wendy. But if Pan thought Wendy was okay, then Felix thought Wendy was okay._

_His stomach twisted into knots. He wanted to smash Sapphire's stupid head into a tree. Felix imagined she would cry out in pain and he would laugh at her. But then, his mind conjured up other things. Things he didn't want to see._

_Looking up at Sapphire ahead, he wondered what would happen if he kissed her again. _

_He shook his head, what kind of thought was that? Felix wasn't in his right mind. He hated it. How could he control anything, if he couldn't even control his thoughts? Just because of her?_

_Maybe, if he kissed her again, he would get over this insatiable lust._

_Grinding his teeth together, he stopped. "Sapphire," he said, his voice husky. _

_Sapphire turned around, a little surprised that he had been the first to speak. Felix noticed something. Her cheeks were wet._

"_Were you crying?" the corner of his mouth turned up._

"_Well I wasn't swimming in the ocean, now was I?" she replied, casting her eyes down. _

_She hated feeling like this. He was laughing at her, and she felt weak. Pathetic._

Bet he thinks I'm crying over him,_ Sapphire thought, and even laughed out loud a little. Felix looked at her, as if she were crazy._

_Another moment passed and neither of them said anything. Sapphire desperately wiped her cheeks and then turned away, picking up her pace._

_Neither of them said anything as they returned to camp._

_Felix disappeared up his tree house and Sapphire saw Pan. She made her way to him, and wrapped her arms around herself._

"_Um," she began._

_Pan raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't look okay._

"_Can you take me home?" Sapphire let out in one breath._

_He blinked. "What's wrong here?" Pan smiled a bit and Sapphire looked around._

"_I don't belong here. I want to go back to New Orleans."_

"_What's changed? I thought you fitted in well here,"_

"_On an island full of boys? Peter, where will I get my daily girly gossip dosage from?" _

"_Felix, perhaps?" Pan chuckled and Sapphire smiled weakly. Felix. Her stomach fluttered at the name._

"_The point is, if my parents are dead, then there's no point me being here. I want to go back to my _real_ parents. Tiana and Naveen. I miss them." _

"_How about, you stay a couple more days, and then I'll take you home." He bargained._

_Sapphire shook her head. "What could change in a few days? I want to go now."_

"_A few more days." Pan's eyes flashed dangerously and he stood up. Sapphire blinked, a little taken aback. He strode off and Sapphire squeezed herself tightly._

_She felt vulnerable. Sapphire liked feeling in charge, and if she couldn't control the way she was feeling, how could she control anything?_

_Lost. Lonely. Sad. Maybe she did belong here._

_She sank to the ground, leaning against a log, her knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting on her knees._

_The warmth from the fire washed over her and she dozed off._

* * *

_Peter Pan appeared in Felix's tree house. Felix had been lounging on the floor, vigorously sharpening his weapons._

_He stood up a quickly, an act of respect._

"_Sorry for intruding," Pan said offhandedly. "Maria wants to leave Neverland."_

"_She was crying before," Felix smirked._

"_She's feeling lonely and lost. Maria has no reason to want to stay," Pan said thoughtfully. "But you, Felix, you are to provide her with a reason. You have a few days to get her to stay, for a while longer, at least. Until we're ready."_

_Felix's brows furrowed. "How am I supposed to get her to stay?" _

"_Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way," Pan laughed. "Just remember Felix, I know everything that goes on in this island." _

_Pan disappeared and Felix glanced out of his window, looking out at the camp. He saw Sapphire, seemingly asleep, on the ground. Like the previous night, she looked so different when she slept. All sarcasm and toughness gone, replaced by what she was inside, a young, vulnerable girl._

_Suddenly, Felix felt the urge to pick her up and take her back to her tent, where she would be protected. Where she would be away from the prying eyes of the other Lost Boys._

_But he didn't. He pushed away his feelings and turned away, lying on his hammock. He drifted into an uneasy sleep._

* * *

Saffron awoke in her cage. Pan was leaning against a tree in front of her.

Her worst nightmare was happening. But it was so much worse. She was awake.

She pushed herself against the back of the cage and started shaking with fear.

"Please," she whimpered. Saffron's breath caught in her throat and tears rolled down her face. "Please don't hurt me."

"I just wanted to apologise," Pan started nonchalantly. "Things got a little… out of hand last night."

Saffron squeezed her eyes shut.

_Calm down,_ she told herself. But she couldn't. Her body wouldn't stop shaking.

When she opened them again, Peter was gone.

A few hours later, Thomas came. He tossed her some food and water, which she gladly accepted. He looked at her in such a way that Saffron felt uncomfortable. She shifted her position and Thomas just rolled his eyes at her, before leaving.

The memory of the pain came flooding back and she gritted her teeth, more tears escaping.

She wanted something to think about. To take her mind off things. Her parents.

Her parents... The harder she tried to pick out certain memories of them, the more they slipped away, quite like a dream, or water.

Either the torture, or her presence on Neverland (as she remembered from the movie), was preventing her from remembering. The things she held onto most dearly were disappearing.

Suddenly, a feeling washed over her. Hopelessness.

What was the point? There was no point.

Absolutely no point at all.

* * *

**I can't believe OUAT starts again in a day!**

**I hope you liked it, and please please please review :-)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Sorry this is a little bit short, I just don't want to finish the story as quick. There's probably a few chapters left after this one.**

**The song 'Unwanted' by Avril Lavigne I think is a good song to describe Sapphire and Felix, so listen to that if you want :)**

**Anyway, hope you like it!**

* * *

There was a rustling from the jungle as someone approached her.

Saffron stared blankly ahead.

It had been weeks since the night on the beach. Or maybe it was days. Could it even be hours?

She wasn't sure. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered.

But it was Felix who arrived at her cage.

He stood there for a moment, looking quite as though he didn't know what to do with himself, or why he was there.

Not that Saffron noticed. Her eyes were out of focus, as she was propped up against the back of the cage, staring into the jungle.

She could've passed for dead, if it weren't for the finger drawing patterns on her leg, or the occasional blink or heave of the chest.

Felix noticed everything.

Small sacks of food had been left in the corner to rot, and the Lost Boys had long since stopped giving her food. She would only waste it anyway.

Her figure was hollow, gaunt.

"You're going to kill yourself," he said.

Saffron didn't reply.

"You have to eat."

Saffron didn't reply. Or move. Or even acknowledge he was there.

His eyebrows pushed together in annoyance. Felix sat down and rested his arms on his knees.

"Say something," Felix pushed, his teeth grinding together.

Her mouth parted, as if she longed for words to come out.

She frowned and looked Felix in the eye.

Hopelessness. She'd given up already. Usually, it took so much longer for the prisoners to crack.

Especially Wendy. Wendy still hadn't cracked. Perhaps it was because Pan still cared for her, or because deep down, something in her soul still loved him.

A strange emotion washed onto Felix's face. Saffron blinked.

"Felix," Saffron spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts. His heart skipped a beat in surprise. And it was his name that she had said first. She moved quickly, but with care, her frail body not being able to take much. "Felix, let me out."

Not seeing any harm in letting out this useless and sickly girl, he obliged. Taking a small key from his belt, he unlocked her cage.

Saffron looked up at Felix. He put his hand out for her to take, but she grasped his whole arm to pull herself up.

She stretched her limbs out and leant against a tree.

"Felix," she said again, looking up at him. The look in his eyes made his stomach twist into knots. Emotions he hadn't felt for 17 years rose to the surface and he clenched his fists to keep them under control. "Tell me why you saved me."

The question surprised him. She took a step closer to him and reached a small hand to his face. Her finger trailed from the top end of his scar to the end.

Felix closed his eyes and shivered at her touch. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" she breathed.

"You wouldn't understand."

"You're probably right."

He blinked.

"I don't understand anything. Everything I thought was real doesn't seem so anymore. It's all a blur, a mess. I can't understand. I don't want it anymore. My head hurts. I don't want it anymore." Saffron repeated in a whisper, shaking her head.

Her arms wrapped around his waist and she pressed herself against him, her head resting below his chin. Felix stood still.

So much love and emotion was squeezed between them. Feeling she didn't remember, and he couldn't and didn't want to understand.

"But you. I feel you Felix. You're real." Her voice was barely audible.

It was something that she had thought about since that dreadful night. There was something there, between them. Though it was faint, Saffron could feel it.

Her chin tilted up and her eyes bore into his.

An unescapable question was asked through their eyes.

_Can you save me?_

It didn't need to be said aloud.

The look of pain twisted onto his features. He pushed her away. "No."

After all, what could Felix do? He was nobody. He didn't understand these feelings inside of him, and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to.

Love. Pan had mentioned it once. But Felix knew love didn't exist. And it especially didn't exist for Felix. So whatever this was, and whatever it had been, didn't exist.

Besides, why would you even contemplate leaving the one you loved, like Sapphire had?

You wouldn't. Unless it wasn't real love. They never had real love.

Saffron looked the other way. Even if he'd said yes, nothing would've change.

But she'd only wanted to know how he felt.

She smiled sadly. Saffron asked him something and Felix nodded.

Ok. Sure. Whatever.

Felix would get over it. He always got over it. Felix was here for Pan. Not for her. Not for anyone but Pan.

He would get over it. Felix kept reassuring himself.

* * *

_Felix sat next to Sapphire._

_It was the next night and Felix had been acting weird all day, it was almost as if he were being nice._

_Sapphire wasn't sure if she liked it._

_But it was in that moment something clicked._

_They sat at the camp, surrounded by other playing boys. Pan was at the opposite side of them, sword fighting with some younger ones._

"_You can cut the crap you know," Sapphire mumbled._

"_What?" Felix asked._

"_You don't think I don't know that Pan asked you to be nice to me, so I would want to stay?"_

"_Or maybe, I just wanted to spend some time with you," he said, the corners of his mouth turning up and Sapphire rolled her eyes._

_But the thing was that Sapphire had actually been enjoying his company, and the fact that none of it had been real made her even more desperate to leave._

_She noticed now that Pan had stopped play fighting and was now watching them closely. She quelled the urge to roll her eyes again and sighed instead. Their eyes met and she turned away to look at Felix._

"_It just makes me want to leave even more," Sapphire smiled sadly at him and she admired how his eyes didn't immediately flick to Pan, who she knew he must've known was watching._

_Felix, though he would never admit, had thought that Sapphire's company throughout the day had been bearable. She could be annoying at times, but she was ok._

_Sapphire stood up and left the camp, heading towards her tent for an early night._

_Lost in her thoughts, quickly she realised she was lost. Then she bumped into a slight figure._

"_Oh, I'm sorry," Sapphire apologised and looked up to see who it is. She expected it to be a younger Lost Boy, but it wasn't. It was Wendy._

"_No, no, it was my fault." She replied shortly. Sapphire was quite taken aback. Apart from her obvious hostility towards Sapphire, she still had manners. That was something that definitely set her apart from the others. From Pan._

_Sapphire had a question. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you see in Pan?"_

_Wendy met her eyes as if to read into the meaning of her question. She sighed, deciding that Sapphire didn't have any ulterior motives._

"_Peter is sweet to me. He lets me experience things I never could in my world-"_

"_I'm sure he does," Sapphire cut off Wendy and chuckled. Wendy glared at her. "I'm sorry. Continue."_

"_- like flying, or magic. But he's so closed up. I wish he could talk to me. Whenever we see each other, he's so excited, but he never tells me why. A-and then he was kissing you…" The unfriendliness was back in her eyes._

"_Wendy, I wouldn't worry about it. It didn't mean anything. I don't like Pan at all. In fact, I'll let you in on a secret." Sapphire smiled. It was quite like talking to a young child, even though Wendy couldn't even be more than a few years year younger than herself. "I'm pretty into Felix."_

_A smile crept onto Wendy's face. "Felix? Well, have fun with that…Actually, I was looking for the camp. Have you seen it, it seems to have been moved."_

"_Well, I'm kind of lost," Sapphire admitted._

_They decided to go find the camp together. That way, she could find her way back to her tent._

_Whilst they walked, they chatted together, like girls do. Surprisingly, they got along quite well, even though Wendy wouldn't usually be the company Sapphire would keep._

_Arriving back at camp, Pan stood up and headed towards them both._

_Wendy grinned widely at him and he smiled shortly back. It was so obvious that she was falling in love with Peter Pan, yet he only felt a fraction of the same emotion. Sapphire felt a pang of pity for the girl, but then she blinked._

_Wasn't she in the same situation with Felix? Not that she was in love with him, but it was basically the same thing._

_Speaking of, she couldn't see him anywhere._

"_And I just sent Felix to look for you," Pan nodded at me, and Wendy stood there, looking at Pan in awe. He turned his gaze to her and smiled broadly. _

"_What are we going to do tonight, Peter?" _

"_Anything you want," he beamed._

_Sapphire turned away to give them so privacy. They both started to walk into the jungle and she decided to finally go back to her tent._

_A few minutes later and she could see it. Sleep was in her mind, until she walked straight into a solid figure._

"_I really should look where I'm going," she muttered before looking up. It was Felix, who looked annoyed. Sapphire rolled her eyes and went to push past him._

"_I just wasted my time looking for you," he caught her wrist in a strong grip and pulled her back. She yanked her arm back, but stayed put anyway._

"_What's it to you, you're immortal anyway." Sapphire pointed out._

_Felix shrugged. "I have better things to spend my immortality doing," he drawled._

"_Uh huh, like what?" Sapphire folded her arms._

"_Like figuring out how I'm going to torture my next victim." At least Sapphire thought he was being sarcastic._

_Sapphire stood there for a few moments, completely zoned out._

"_Hello?" he asked in a low voice._

_She snapped out of it and looked up. "Sorry, I was just thinking about yesterday. You know, when you kissed me." A cheeky smile played on her lips._

_He rolled his eyes. She was playing her last cards now, and she would know where she stood in a few moments. If she was never going to see Neverland or Felix again, then what did it matter?_

"_I don't seem to recall that," he replied, in his usual monotone. Felix was playing right into her hands._

"_Really? Maybe you need me to jog your memory. Perhaps a little demonstration would help," she smirked._

_Felix froze and she knew he was going into lock down mode. Sapphire sighed._

"_Don't be that way, Felix," she closed the distance between them and flicked her eyes to look at his face._

"_Hmm, I suppose motivation wouldn't kill anyone," she cocked her head to the side and placed one hand around his neck, tugging lightly on the feathers that adorned his hair. The other hand landed on his chest, where it slowly moved downwards, towards his crotch._

_When it reached its destination, she could feel his desire pressed to her palms._

_Like the time when he took her to hunt the Questing Beast, his eyes were focused straight ahead, but as Sapphire continued to move and press her palm against his groin, Felix's teeth ground together._

"_Felix," she whined and took away her hand, placing both hands on his chest. He let out a noise between annoyance and a moan._

_One hand remained on his chest whilst the other played with the hem of his pants._

"_Kiss me," she whispered, her hand slipping down the inside. Felix tilted his head back. "Kiss me." She repeated more forcefully as her hand fell ever so slightly downwards._

_A lustful desire swept over Felix and he grabbed her waist violently. Neverland trees became useful as Sapphire's back was pressed up against one. _

_Their lips collided in a fit of passion and they kissed. _

_However rough yesterday had been, this was even more so._

_Felix's teeth tugged at her bottom lip as Sapphire was pressed awkwardly against a tree, one hand down in front of her, working feverishly, and the other was entangled in his hair._

_His mouth opened and he moaned. Sapphire laughed a breath of fresh air._

_Now she removed her hand, much to Felix's disappointment, and instead wrapped her legs around his waist. She attacked his neck with harsh kisses that were sure to leave marks. He pulled and jerked her hair, causing her to cry out multiple times._

"_Well this is cosy," An English voice said. It couldn't possibly be mistaken as Pan's. The intruder was clearly an adult. _

_They both pulled away, and Felix started to laugh. Sapphire had never heard him laugh before, and she liked it, although she didn't know what he thought was funny._

_Sapphire brushed her hair over her shoulder as she disentangled herself from Felix. A smirk was plastered over Felix's face, and the man was looking at him._

"_And here I was, thinking that there were no girls allowed on Neverland…" His voice faded out as his gaze was drawn to her._

_Their eyes met. Both piercing blue gazes held each-others, and the man's mouth was agape._

_Felix's laughs drained down to small chuckles. Sapphire blinked._

"_And here _I _was, thinking that there were no adults on Neverland." Sapphire responded, looking at him._

"_Maria?" he whispered._

_Sapphire turned to Felix. "For the last bloody time, who is Maria?"_

_Felix couldn't help it. Like the boy he was, he started to laugh once again._

_And then Pan was there. At first, his gaze was mildly annoyed, but then his eyes flicked around the three of them._

_Sapphire and Felix, lips red and swollen, hair messy and small marks adorning Felix, Pan knew what had been going on before they had been interrupted. His eyes moved to the third. Captain Hook. And then Pan started laughing too. _

"_Oh my," Pan chuckled. "You and daddy dearest _do_ have some catching up to do."_

* * *

_Her legs powered ahead. Walking. She was walking away from it all._

_Her father? She could definitely see the resemblance between them. The black hair, the piercing blue eyes and long, straight nose. But why would Pan lie, and say her parents were dead?_

_If he had lied for reasons to his own benefit, why had Pan allowed the man to simply walk in on them? _And just as I was getting my way with Felix_, Sapphire thought bitterly._

_Perhaps it was so she would extend her stay, a last ditch effort. But why would Pan want her to stay? What could she possibly offer, when he obviously had everything and everyone under his thumb, right where he wanted them?_

_Was it a trick? A trick so that Sapphire wouldn't retreat to her tent, and Felix was to kiss her, just to stall her, so the man could find them?_

But,_ thought Sapphire, _Felix definitely couldn't fake that sort of emotion.

_Sapphire kept walking, her destination unbeknownst to her._

_She couldn't leave now, could she? The whole point was to find her parents, and now she's found her dad, she couldn't just _go._ But then she would be playing right into Pan's hands if she stayed._

_Then, she stopped walking. Who cares what Pan wanted? She wanted to meet her parents, to find out the truth about her past. And that's what she would do._

_Except the fact she was utterly lost._

_Folding her arms over her chest, she rolled her eyes. She could almost taste the smirk that would be on Pan's face. _

"_Peter Pan!" she yelled into the trees, tapping her foot on the ground impatiently._

"_Yes?" He leant against a tree, smirking._

"_Take me back to… to that guy," she grumbled._

"_What, you mean your father?" Pan walked towards her and she rolled her eyes._

"_Yes," Sapphire sighed._

"_Unfortunately, he's gone back to his ship." He grinned._

"_And you're saying you can't get me there?"_

"_What I'm saying, is that it'd be rude to simply transport you onto his ship. No, I think it'd be better if you climbed aboard yourself."_

"_Fine, whatever. Just take me to the stupid ship."_

"_Was there a please in there?" he tugged at her hair annoyingly._

"Please,_" Sapphire spat._

"_As you wish," Pan gripped her arm, and in a second they were standing on the beach. She fell to her knees, the sensation of transportation completely taking over her._

_A few moments later, she had the strength back to stand up, ignoring the hand Pan held out. Her pride was damaged enough._

_The ship was floating in the water, with the captain standing aboard, scanning the shore. His eyes found them two, and Pan gave a small wave._

"_Time to meet your father," Pan whispered in her ear before disappearing._

* * *

"Okay," Saffron said and Felix put her onto her feet.

The biting wind cut deep, chilling her bones, and she drew to the warmth that was Felix and his layers of clothing.

Their eyes met and he turned away. She looked at the scenery. It was an ugly view.

Felix turned away and started to walk. He pushed through the undergrowth with his club until Saffron couldn't see him anymore.

But he, contrary to Saffron's belief, hadn't left. He could still see her and the sheer drop that was inches away from her feet.

The wind whipped at her hair, her thin blouse billowing.

Almost as if it were telling her to hurry up, a particular gust made her stumble forward.

A ludicrous feeling swept over Saffron and her lips parted. She laughed, and although the most of it was stolen by the wind, Felix heard it. She laughed louder and spread her arms like a bird.

Like a bird, about to jump from the tree and take its first flight.

And Felix watched as she shuffled forward, her toes peeking the edge. He watched as she threw her head back. He watched as she jumped.

But he couldn't watch as she fell to her inevitable death.


	10. Chapter 9

**Sorry for taking an extra week to write this! It's a bit longer than usual, and I think this'll be the penultimate chapter.**

**Also, apologies if it's a bit confusing, with all of the changes of tenses and stuff.**

**Please review, even the smallest things can help or make me smile :-)**

******Anyway, I hope you like it!**

* * *

_Peter Pan sat with his trousers rolled up, as his legs dangled in the warm water. Wendy had said it was too cold, so he'd made it warmer for her._

_Now she sat next to him, her legs splashing playfully a little bit. The sun had set and the moon and stars shone brightly in the Neverland sky._

_Her mouth opened slightly, her head resting on Peter's arm. It took him a moment to realise that Wendy had fallen asleep. _

_He smiled slightly, she was exhausted and would be out for hours. Now would be a good time to get the shadow to take her back to her world, and he could attend to some business he'd been meaning to for a while._

_Quietly, he stood and picked her up in his arms. She rolled her head so it lay on her chest._

_At the beginning, Wendy had just been a pawn in Peter's game, but he had grown fond of her. A little too fond, some Lost Boys might think, but not Peter. He wasn't stupid enough as to disregard or ignore the growing affection he had for her._

_Could it be love? No, it wasn't. Or perhaps not quite. But Peter knew, love was weakness. He would have to cut his visits with her vastly. Neverland was dangerous enough as it was, and Peter certainly didn't want Wendy in any more danger than she had to be._

_Affectionately he brushed some hair from her face before calling the shadow. With instructions to take Wendy back to her own house without awakening her, the shadow gave a brisk nod and left._

_Now, he had things to do._

_Without the shadow to take him where he wanted, he would have to put in an enormous amount of effort to transport to a different realm. Of course, if everything went to plan, that would be fixed, and Peter would be able to transport with no problems at all. But that depended on a lot of things, a lot of variables. Peter didn't like variables._

_And then he was there, standing below a tree that had a boat in it. The marsh sprung underfoot as he strode towards a ladder. He pulled himself up and looked around. There seemed to be no one there._

"_Good thing you don't get any visitors," Peter chuckled and waved his hand to reveal an extremely old woman, standing frozen on the floor. Just where he had left her a week or so before._

_With everything else frozen, only her eyes and ears were allowed to move and work in order._

_Peter was disgusted by this woman, Mama Odie. She was the exact embodiment of what he didn't want to be. Old._

_He shivered at the memory of impersonating her, and still laughs to himself at the blind trust Sapphire had had when she came to see him, or rather, Mama Odie. _

_After all, Mama Odie was the most powerful and magical person she'd ever come across before Peter Pan himself._

"_I just came to say that I'm finished with you now," he smirked at her. Then his smile dropped and he moved up close to her. "But try and contact Sapphire in any way and I will kill you."_

_Something niggled at the back of his mind. It was her eyes. They weren't frightful, or even hateful. There was a look in her eyes that knew something he didn't, and he resented that._

_Maybe he would have to wipe any look out of her eyes._

_Peter cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "On second thought, how about I just get it over with? I can't run the risk that you might tell her something." There were those variables again._

_He waved his hand, allowing her to speak. "Any last words?" He asked._

"_Don't put all your eggs in one basket," Mama Odie said, before Peter Pan flicked his hand carelessly to the side, snapping her neck in one fluid movement._

* * *

_When Peter arrived back on Neverland, he felt it. Another presence on the island. One of those pesky pirates must have found their way onto the island._

_He zoned in on their being and teleported there, annoyed he couldn't bask in the glory of tonight's murder._

_Felix and Sapphire stood close to each other, as Captain Hook stood there, dumbstruck, staring at them both. Pan grinned._

"_Oh my," Pan chuckled. "You and daddy dearest _do_ have some catching up to do."_

_Sapphire's gaze flicked to Pan, and then back to Hook._

_And that's when she turned away and stormed into the forest._

_Pan laughed loudly as the sound of her fighting through the undergrowth died down. Felix chuckled, and like a magnet, he drew towards his leader._

"_Was that… Maria?" Hook glared at Pan, but quickly shoots daggers at Felix instead. "What were _you_ doing with her?"_

_Immediately, the laughter faded on Felix's lips, and the joy was quickly replaced by his usual reserved look._

"_Oh come on, captain, let's not refuse the boys some fun!" Pan laughed, purposely baiting the captain to believe that all of the Lost Boys had fooled around with Sapphire._

"_What?" Hook growled and stepped closer to Pan. Felix remained still._

"_Don't act fatherly _now_, Killian. If you'd actually had a hand in her childhood, she wouldn't be here in Neverland, now would she?" Pan's voice dropped a few tones menacingly. He smirked at the captain and Hook froze. "Come now Felix, we have things to attend to."_

_Peter turned away from Killian and Felix quickly followed, falling just one step behind him. _

_When they had gone, Killian Jones turned away, cursing. He smashed through the undergrowth, much like his daughter had minutes ago. Back to his ship. That's where he could relax, where he could think this through._

_Maria – although she obviously didn't go by Maria – had somehow ended up on Neverland. Was it, like Pan had implied, that she was lost? Or was it for some other, bizarre reason?_

_His heart ripped itself into shreds again. All the memories of losing Milah came flooding back, and the fact that he missed out on raising his only child made it so much worse._

_Had her upbringing been so terrible that she'd ended up in Neverland? Been accepted as the first Lost Girl, and had so little self-respect?_

_After walking for a few minutes later, he finally ended up on the shore. The ship rocked from side to side in the shallow waters. The ship where it had all happened, so many years ago._

_Once he was aboard, he ignored his crew except for one command to Smee._

"_Send the strongest rum you have to my quarters."_

* * *

Peter had been sitting in the midst of the camp. The moon was high and most of the boys were asleep. This was when he liked to get most of his thinking done.

But Felix had disappeared early on, his expression seemed cloudier than usual.

Instead of following him, or asking where he was going, Pan just moved his gaze to the ground. He had other things to think about, other than Felix.

Although Felix could tie into things. Saffron was there just for convenience, and she as obviously trying to starve herself to death.

Peter thought that was stupid, she could've just asked him to die and he would have obliged.

The thing was, Saffron wasn't that necessary to Peter's plot. His time was running out and he needed the Heart of the Truest Believer, and Saffron could be a pawn to help his elaborate plan play out precisely. But if she weren't there, it still could work. After all, Peter Pan never put all his eggs in one basket.

After the first time she had been in Neverland, things hadn't gone quite as planned, although he still had things to thank her for. But he couldn't thank her for things she couldn't remember.

One of those things was, however ever much he hated her for it, dragging him out of the black hole that was falling in love.

If his relationship with Wendy had gone any further, he would've found himself in love with her. And if you had something you loved, you were weak. Peter Pan was never weak. So, he had Sapphire to thank for that, but no one disobeys Pan, so she had to pay. And she did.

Pan thought about killing Saffron now. She was a nonessential pawn in his game of chess, and in the state she was in, she wasn't going to be helping anybody.

But then he felt a terrible feeling. It was a sharp stabbing was felt all over his body and he gritted his teeth. He closed his eyes and once they were opened, he was in a different place in the island. He was at the edge of the jungle, concealed by shadows, and near a cliff top. Felix stood just a few meters away from Pan, and they both watched as Saffron jumped from the cliff.

Felix lunged from the jungle, as if suddenly realising that letting her kill herself wasn't ok, and Pan stepped forward and grabbed his arm before Felix himself fell off the cliff. Felix looked at him wildly, but the stabbing feeling in Pan was growing and his eyes were screwed closed.

"Pan, are you okay" Felix's voice shook.

And then the pain was gone. Pan opened his eyes, ashamed from that unknown moment of weakness.

"I'm fine," he replied curtly.

Fine. He was fine _now_, but he needed to find out what that was. Pan couldn't be weak.

If there was one other person who was fluent in magic, and had lived on this island enough to gain his trust and answer his questions, it was Tinkerbell. So Tinkerbell is who he would ask.

Felix was staring at the cliff edge, not daring to move since Pan still gripped his arm. His scar was painfully visible in the moonlight and Pan turned away, letting go. Felix still didn't move.

"I need to go visit our little ex-fairy. You coming?" Peter asked.

"Huh? Oh, yes." Felix trailed zombie-like behind Pan as they traipsed to Tinkerbell's home.

* * *

As Saffron fell through the air, she thought the sensation was quite like exhilarating. For a moment, she even wondered if she really wanted to die or not. The ground was rushing towards her, and for a second, it quite felt like she was flying.

_Flying,_ Saffron thought as a terribly strong wave of déjà vu swept over her.

Flying. Where had she felt this sensation before? And then Saffron should've hit the ground, but she didn't. She was flying. No longer falling, actually, really flying! She flew up, but then felt like she was about to throw up, so she landed heavily on her feet, the green sparkling mist surrounding her fading away.

Something prickled in the corner of her mind, something that verged on the edge of pain. Saffron nodded to herself. It must be something to do with her oxygen intake, or maybe she was just passing out after being able to fly, at least for a few moments anyway.

"Running out of pixie dust fast," Saffron heard a woman with a strange accent mutter.

Saffron spun around and her head pounded. "Who are you?" Her eyes met a small blonde lady.

"I'm Tinkerbell,"

* * *

_In a daze Sapphire soon found herself aboard Captain Hook's ship._

"_Can I see the captain?" she asked a man in a red beanie._

"_Uh," he said, his eyes flicking towards the steps leading below deck._

"_I'm…" Sapphire swallowed. "I'm his daughter."_

_The man took a step back, surprised. "Maria?"_

"_I take it I was born as Maria? Well, I go by Sapphire now, thank you," She asserted herself._

"_Um, okay, Sapphire, I'm sure I can take you down to the Captain," he muttered and turned away down the steps. Sapphire followed him warily._

_A few moments later she stood with her back to the door in a room with desks and cabinets. His back was to her._

"_Uh," Sapphire cleared her throat. Her heart pounded nervously as the chair slowly swung around and she saw her real father._

_A canteen which he had been previously drinking from was placed onto the table. "Maria?"_

"_My name's Sapphire now,"_

"_Your mother so liked the name Maria," His dark eyebrows knitted together. "But I suppose Sapphire is ok. A bit pretentious, maybe."_

"_Pretentious?" Sapphire folded her arms._

"_It means -"_

"_Yes, I know what it _means_," Sapphire frowned. And then it hit her. "You're drunk."_

"_I'm not _drunk_. A good captain is always on his best form."_

"_Well you're obviously not a good captain then, are you?"_

"_Who are you, challenging my honour?" He asked aggressively. _

"_I don't know, maybe your daughter that you abandoned!" Sapphire said heatedly. "Where's my mother, then. Did you leave her too?"_

_All traces of aggravation were gone from his face, replaced by ultimate sadness._

"_She died."_

"_Oh," Sapphire said. "Oh."_

"_The day I lost you. Rumplestiltskin killed her, and took my hand," he waved his hook at her. "And you were safe below deck. But you weren't safe. Somehow, you got your hands on a magic bean, and it sent you to a different realm. I spent many years searching for you, but to no avail… I never thought I'd find you on Neverland, of all places."_

_Sapphire leant against the wooden wall. So many questions flooded her head, but only one thing escaped her lips. "I came here to look for you."_

_Her father looked at her in surprise. She realised she didn't even know his name. "In Neverland?"_

"_Well, I didn't know where the bean I took would take me, but it was supposed to take me to 'what I needed most', so I guess that's you," Sapphire smiled tentatively._

_The rest of the night and part of the day, after he had sobered up a bit, was spent getting to know each other. And they got along great – Sapphire was definitely her father's daughter. But somehow, Killian (she had decided to call him by his first name), kept steering the conversation towards his lust for revenge on Rumplestiltskin, and it was getting quite tiresome._

"_I should go…" Sapphire said._

_Killian's eyes looked out of the porthole. It was dark now in Neverland._

"_I suppose, but you could always stay aboard if you like,"_

_Sapphire smiled but shook her head, she was getting a little sick from the constant swaying of the boat._

"_Ah, alright. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" he smiled hopefully and Sapphire nodded._

"_I'm so glad I found you," they said in unison, before Sapphire left the room and headed for the deck._

_Soon, she felt the gritty sand below foot. From where she was, she had no idea how to get back to camp. Perhaps staying aboard hadn't been such a bad idea._

"_Peter Pan!" She called, and no sooner had the words left her lips, the boy appeared in front of her. Sapphire stepped back, it was quite disconcerting. _

"_What?" He sighed, annoyed._

"_Take me back to my tent. Please." She added on second thought._

"_What, not staying aboard the Jolly Roger? Anyway, I have better things to do than escort you around Neverland,"_

"_Oh, I'm sorry I interrupted your evil scheming," Sapphire rolled her eyes and Pan shot her a look which quickly made her shut up. They started to walk._

"_How's Wendy?" Sapphire randomly asked after a few moments._

"_Why?" he replied sharply._

_Sapphire shrugged so Pan made no answer._

"_Do you like her?"_

"_No, I decide to spend my precious time with someone I despise," Pan replied, his voice laced with sarcasm._

"_Well you could do. I don't know how your mastermind brain works."_

"_I'm starting to realise why Felix is so against spending time with you,"_

"_Yeah, and why is that?"_

"_You talk too much,"_

"_Hm, you think? Because from what I recall, Felix and I didn't actually seem to get much talking done," Sapphire chuckled, although they had only kissed twice._

"_I don't want to know, thanks," Pan said, powering ahead quickly._

"_You know what, Pan?"_

"_What?"_

"_I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."_

* * *

Tinkerbell led Saffron towards her tree house, all the while the pain in Saffron's head grew. She thought she was going to faint soon.

When Tinkerbell turned and saw Saffron white as a sheet, she quickly led her to her hammock and let Saffron lay down.

Weird things flashed through her vision. At first it was just things like Neverland, but places she was sure she'd never been to before. Her head pounded. Saffron gripped the covers, her teeth gritting together.

"Are you okay?" Tinkerbell asked. "Do you want anything?"

"It's – it's just a headache," Saffron said, trying to convince herself more than Tinkerbell. Saffron, in a way, hated Tinkerbell. She'd saved Saffron from death, and Saffron didn't want that to happen.

"Why did you jump? Was it Pan?"

Saffron shrugged. "I don't want to live. Mostly because of Pan and Neverland."

Also, Saffron was forgetting more and more about her past. She'd knew she had one, had parents, and a place to live, but no details would come to mind. She didn't know if this was one of Neverland's effects, or if she was just losing her mind.

"There's always more reasons to live,"

"Not when you're trapped here," Saffron smiled sadly, but the smile was soon replaced by a grimace.

"I'm sorry," Tinkerbell said and went to move towards Saffron, but was distracted by movement at the bottom of the tree.

There was some talking, and then Tinkerbell said. "You're not coming up."

Pan's voice floated up and Saffron tensed, praying Tinkerbell would stop him. If she was Tinkerbell, wasn't she supposed to be a fairy? Weren't her and Peter supposed to be friends?

"On the contrary, Tink. We have things I want to talk about."

"Can't it wait?"

"What do you have better to do? Are you keeping a pirate hostage up there?" He chuckled and Saffron shivered at the emptiness of his laugh.

"Come back at another time." She said icily. Tinkerbell knew this was only going to end badly for her, so she prayed Pan was in a good mood. Tinkerbell wanted to help this girl. She was hoping in vain that somehow, Blue was keeping tabs on her, so if she helped someone, or acted like a good fairy, Blue would believe in her again.

"What _are_ you hiding?" And with a flick of his hand, Tinkerbell was unable to move.

By this point, Saffron had begun to not care. Hopefully, Pan would just kill her – finish the job. But, without it being on her own terms, she felt frightened. Saffron squirmed, remembering the pain he had inflicted the last time they were close.

More images flashed through her mind. A man, a woman, another man, a young girl, Pan, Felix – Felix? Strange visions of her being in close proximity to him, emotions that played along with the vision flooded her, along with stabbing pains in her head.

The pain was terrible, and what was worse was not knowing what was causing it.

Saffron cried out and fell off the hammock, making the floor shake.

She was too overcome to realise that Pan had already entered the tree house, along with Felix. Pan's eyebrows were raised, and Felix stood rigid. How was she alive?

Then he was angry. How could she do this to him? How could she still be alive? Was she trying to prolong his suffering?

Her fingers clawed at the wooden floor as things in her brain were slotted back into place. Since this was happening naturally, and with no magical help, her brain was being ripped apart to insert the memories and then jammed crudely back together.

Disturbing strangled noises fought their way up her throat and through her mouth as the pain escalated.

Felix stared for a moment, before turning slowly to Pan.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything," he said as he watched Saffron, his head tilted to the side in sadistic interest.

"Then what is it?" Felix turned back to Saffron and gripped his club. His teeth were clamped so tight he swore they would break.

"It seems that she's regaining all of her memories,"

Felix opened his mouth to say something, but his words her lost in a final scream. It was gut wrenching, ear piercing, and bone rattling. Felix dropped his club, bile rising in his throat and Tinkerbell broke out of the spell and fell to the floor, covering her ears.

Saffron shuddered and then fell limp.

"Is she dead?" Tinkerbell whispered. Felix moved forward slowly and fell to his knees. Half of him wished for her to wake, the other half wanted her to stay asleep or dead.

He glanced back at Pan, for reassurance, for anything. Was Felix supposed to feel sad? Ashamed? Sick? Angry?

There seemed to be a mixture of all of those in his stomach, but every time he tried to put his finger on one, it floated away.

But Pan just stood there, deep in thought. He murmured something to Tinkerbell and she replied. They had a quick hushed conversation that Felix couldn't hear. His ears were still ringing, the terrible scream reverberating in his head.

Felix's hand carefully touched her face. It wasn't a tender, or romantic gesture, but he wanted to know if she was cold or not.

Suddenly, Felix was pushed aside by Pan. Felix looked at him in surprise. Pan was on his knees, hovering over Saffron's body and murmuring charms, working magic.

Felix stood up and stood next to Tinkerbell. "What's he doing?"

"He mentioned of a pain he was feeling, before she jumped. Neverland runs on belief, and because..."

"Saffron."

"Because Saffron lacked any belief in anything at all, Pan was feeling the side effects. And if she dies, it could lower how much time Pan has."

His stomach leapt. Maybe, if he'd lied to Saffron and said that he loved her, or stopped her from jumping, Pan wouldn't be suffering due to his idiocy.

"Pan didn't know that that was a possibility," Tinkerbell said, interrupting his thoughts. That calmed Felix a little.

It was all silent for a few moments, bar Pan's incessant mutterings, before Pan fell back. Both Felix and Tinkerbell moved to stand beside Pan, crowding around Saffron's body.

Saffron opened her eyes.

_Oh, crap._


End file.
